


Captive

by Higuchimon



Category: Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02
Genre: Abduction, Gen, Mind Control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-11
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-02-08 11:27:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 46,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1939296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higuchimon/pseuds/Higuchimon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daisuke knows fun.  Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy?  That is not fun.  At all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lost

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 1: Lost  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,269||story: 2,269  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** [WIP, Ken  & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

Motomiya Daisuke knew what fun was. He’d had fun before, many times in his eleven years of life. Fun involved hanging out with his friends, playing soccer, watching television with his family, and these days, taking trips to the Digital World. Fun involved knocking down the Digimon Kaiser’s control spires and seeing him rant and rave about it. 

Fun did not involve getting slammed with an entire herd of Tyrannomon with Evil Spirals on and having to run for his life while Raidramon blasted them with everything that he had. Fun really didn’t involve not just running for his life, but running until he couldn’t breathe and realizing that he didn’t know where in the Digital World he was anymore. 

He closed his eyes, leaned against a tree, and did what he could to catch his breath. He did a good job of it; all of his years in sports came in handy. 

“Okay,” he muttered to himself as he started to calm down. “I need to get back there.” His friends needed him. Raidramon could fight pretty well on his own, but what if they needed to change to FlaDramon or something? What if the Kaiser had caught them, for real this time? 

Daisuke didn’t like thinking about _that_ particular little adventure. Bowing down to Ken hadn’t bothered him nearly as much as the thought that his friends might die a horrible screaming death and there wasn’t anything he could’ve done about it. 

So, he needed to get back there and make certain that everyone was all right. 

Maybe once he found something to drink first. He rubbed his throat; why didn’t they bring drinks with them on trips like this? After all that running, he really needed something cold. Summer was still a few weeks away, but it was hot here in the Digital World, which didn’t help at all. 

There were two sources of refreshments he could find. One was a random refrigerator that might or might not have something like milk or lemonade or soda or tea in it. Those were chancy and sometimes they’d come across ones that had unopened but empty cans. Daisuke privately considered those to be absolute cheats. 

Miyako publicly considered them the same thing, and had declared so more than once at the top of her lungs. Daisuke kind of hoped that he’d hear her doing so any second now. It would make find them that much easier if she’d bellow for him. 

The other chance for something to drink was a lot likelier: simply finding a stream or river of some kind. Digital water tasted just as good as water from Earth and once in a while it even came in flavors. Takeru insisted that he’d found a lemonade spring once, but he’d never been able to remember where it was. 

As fast as he’s been running, and as little attention as he’d paid to where he was going, Daisuke had to sort of guess which way he’d come from. Then he almost smacked himself and dug his D-Terminal out of his pocket. A few quick flicks of his fingers sent a message off to everyone else. 

_Hey, guys! I’m on the way back. Might take me a while, but I’ll be there soon!_ He fully expected some kind of quick reply, probably from Miyako with her typical exasperation about how only he could get lost when trying to save himself from being eaten. 

What he didn’t expect, and what he got, was a small beeping sound from the device and an error message. 

_Message not sent?_ Daisuke tapped it again. This kind of thing wasn’t supposed to happen. 

Again the error message flicked onto his screen. A thin thread of fear wormed its way down Daisuke’s spine and he took a careful look around. Something wasn’t right. He didn’t know what it was, but he didn’t like it, and he wanted to get out of here and back to the others even faster. 

What he liked even less was the sudden feeling that someone was watching him. There were probably Digimon he couldn’t see hiding all over the place. Most Digimon hid anytime there was any chance that the Kaiser could be in the area, and Daisuke didn’t think he’d ran _that_ far from where the battle had broken out. So it wasn’t too much of a stretch to guess that Ken could be around. 

Though wouldn’t he be concentrating on saving his precious spire? Daisuke kind of thought that was how he’d think, but he couldn’t be sure. Figuring out how Ken thought gave him a headache. 

He took another look around. He couldn’t see any of the spires in the area anyway, and certainly not the one they’d been attacking. Some of the areas were close together enough so that they could, and frequently did, cross from one to the other without even noticing it, so that wasn’t much of a surprise, if it was what had happened. 

_I looked at the map before we got here. All the areas around here were under his control. There wasn’t supposed to be a free area for miles._ And he knew that he hadn’t run for miles. 

Daisuke moved carefully. If there were Digimon with Evil Rings or Spirals in the area, he didn’t want to run across them, not when he didn’t have his partner with him. He was pretty sure that a good swift kick wouldn’t do a lot of good when it came to breaking one of those. 

_Well, maybe it would._ He had to grin at the thought. _I don’t think I’ve tried it yet._

He wasn’t sure offhand if he really wanted to, but running out to find the nearest Ringed or Spiralled Digimon was a little too reckless even for Daisuke. At least doing it alone. _Once I find the others, then I’ll do it._ He liked the notion, now that it had occurred to him, and it gave a little extra spring to his step as he kept moving, trying to find his own backtrail. 

The feeling of eyes watching him hadn’t stopped for a moment. If anything, it got worse as he worked his way back. He kept trying to send his message to the others, but every time, the same error occurred. Daisuke wasn’t the same kind of book-smart as Koushirou or Miyako was, but he knew something was up. Something that he _really_ didn’t like. 

Something that reeked far too strongly of the Digimon Kaiser and his tricks than anything else. 

“Are you around here?” Daisuke didn’t want to shout. Under any other circumstances, he would have. He would’ve bellowed the question at the top of his lungs and demanded answers from anything or anyone that dared to present itself. But the longer he remained without V-mon, the more it began to trickle into his mind that a human alone in the Digital World was a human in a great deal of danger. 

Especially when that human was him, and the Digimon Kaiser had more than once displayed something that other people might call a bit of an obsession with humiliating him. 

He still hadn’t found anything to drink, and that irked him almost as much as the persistent feeling that someone was watching him. He thought it probably annoyed him more, because with someone watching him, he’d be able to punch them out sooner or later. Or at least find out who it was. But when it came to something to drink, the odds of doing that depended either on finding a stream or a television set so he could head back to Earth and the school water fountains. 

Okay, he’d look for his friends first and foremost. Once he found them, then he could go back and get something to drink, or see if any of them knew where he could get a good drink here. And that was if he didn’t find one while he was looking for them. 

He took another look around as he kept moving. No one had answered his question, and he wasn’t very unhappy about that. He’d almost never been afraid while in the Digital World and he didn’t like feeling that way now. 

But that sensation of being watched hadn’t faded at all, and he picked up his place just a little more. The sooner he got back to everyone else the better. 

The more he walked, though, the more he found himself hoping that he _could_ get back to them. With his D-Terminal unable to send a message, they wouldn’t know he was coming or what had happened to him. 

_So, they’re gonna start looking, right?_ They’d use their… and Daisuke smacked himself in the face. He knew he wasn’t the smartest person to ever strut around in two worlds, but he should’ve figured out to use his D-3 a lot sooner than he had. He tugged it out of his pants and checked for other signals. 

There weren’t any. 

“There’s no way I ran that far.” There was a range on these things, but he couldn’t think of what it was, but even when they couldn’t see each other, he knew the D-3s could pick each other up. Something he didn’t like at all was going on here. 

He didn’t put the D-3 away, though. Maybe if he just kept going, he’d find a signal. Someone’s signal, anyway. He couldn’t remember having ever picked up Ken’s on any other trip here. For right now that meant that the Kaiser wasn’t in the area or he was somehow hidden from them. 

Daisuke stopped in his tracks a few minutes later, staring at the far too inviting stream that wended its way through a clearing. He knew he hadn’t seen it on his mad dash to avoid getting eaten or worse, because he would’ve noticed splashing through it. 

_Did I take a wrong turn?_ That wasn’t impossible. He hadn’t marked his trail going out, and the grass and moss of the Digital World were so thick here that he couldn’t find any footprints he might’ve left behind. 

He tucked his D-3 and D-Terminal back into his pockets and headed over to the stream. He’d at least be able to get that drink before he tried to figure out where he was. That was something, at least. 

“If I’d known I was going to get lost, I would’ve brought a cup with me,” he muttered to himself, scooping up a handful of water and letting it trickle into his mouth. He was pretty sure that wouldn’t have made sense to anyone but him, but since he was the only person there to hear himself, it didn’t need to make sense to anyone else. 

“I would think if you’d known you were going to get lost, you would’ve brought a useful map.” A voice he would’ve paid money not to hear right now came from behind him. Daisuke froze where he was. “I wouldn’t make any sudden moves if I were you. Of course, if I were you, I wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with, since I would know better than to fight me.” 

“That didn’t make _any_ sense.” Daisuke refused to turn around just yet. If he didn’t see Ken for himself, then perhaps Ken wouldn’t actually be there. Maybe the water did something to his head. He’d much rather believe something like that than be on the verge of being captured by his mortal enemy. He’d been caught before. He hadn’t liked it any other time and he didn’t see why this should be any different. 

“Perhaps not to you, but I wouldn’t expect it to. Not with _your_ level of intellect.” It was amazing how quickly Ken’s slightest words could make Daisuke want to turn around and punch him. For that matter, he suddenly couldn’t see any reason why he didn’t do just that right now. 

He whirled, hoping he was too fast for Ken to do anything to stop him, and rammed one fist directly toward the Digimon Kaiser. 

He should’ve remembered the only time he’d ever been able to get a punch on Ken had been when the other hadn’t expected him to strike at all. Ken moved smoothly backward, one foot slipping forward to catch around Daisuke’s ankle, and jerked, sending the Chosen Child tumbling toward the ground. 

“Is that the best you can do?” Ken shook his head, setting one foot onto Daisuke’s back and grinding until Daisuke had to fight to breathe. “This is almost too easy.” 

“Sorry to disappoint you.” Daisuke lied, struggling to push the other back and having no success. Ken wasn’t bulky by any means, but there was plenty of muscle there to keep Daisuke down, and Daisuke himself wasn’t in any position to do more than squirm fruitlessly. 

“I’m sure you are.” Ken chuckled, a sound that sent shudders all through his opponent. “But you won’t be for much longer.” 

Daisuke managed to wiggle around just enough so he could look at the other. “What are you talking about? I won’t be sorry much longer? Or I won’t disappoint you?” He wanted to take any chance he could to at least distract Ken. Maybe that would help. Somehow. 

Ken only smiled, a look that made Daisuke want to get out of there even more. “You won’t disappoint me much longer. I’m conducting an experiment, Motomiya, and you’re going to help me.” 

“Not interested.” 

Ken’s whip uncurled and he snapped it forward, the lash wrapping around Daisuke’s throat and tightening into a makeshift leash. “I wasn’t asking.” 

**To Be Continued**


	2. Taken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [WIP, Ken & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 2: Taken  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,225||story: 4,494  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** [WIP, Ken  & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

Ken tightened his grip, pushing Daisuke farther down. The Chosen Child kept on struggling, refusing to admit he’d been defeated. Ken narrowed his eyes. He should’ve guessed the idiot wouldn’t do what was best and surrender. This _was_ Daisuke, after all. No matter. He’d already made plans for that. 

He glanced slightly beyond the squirming boy and nodded. Daisuke’s eyes widened, though he couldn’t have any idea of what his captor had in mind. He started to turn his head to see what Ken was looking at, but before he could get all the way around, a spray of thick, sticky liquid washed all over him. 

“Sticky Net!” Wormmon declared his attack, wrapping Ken’s prisoner up in a cocoon that would’ve taken a Digimon’s strength to break. Daisuke didn’t stand a chance of doing it. 

“Well done.” Ken nodded a slight bit of approval. He hadn’t entirely believed that Wormmon could actually do this, no matter how much his so-called partner believed that he could. 

_I don’t suppose it’s that impressive. It is Daisuke._ If nothing else, this meant he wouldn’t have to use the back-up plans for subduing and carrying the other back to his base. 

He seized Daisuke by the back of his shirt and started to drag him away toward the waiting AirDramon. Several well-placed loops of webbing kept his captive from yelling and screaming, which made this a much quieter journey than it might have been otherwise. That was what Ken wanted; a quick in and out now that he had his target. 

Things would get noisy later. Likely not much later, but once he had discovered whether or not his plan could work. If it couldn’t, then he’d set up something to lure the rest of the idiots into a trap and leave them somewhere to burn. He didn’t want to keep captives that served no actual purpose. 

If it did work…ohh, the things he could do then. Ken didn’t giggle with glee. But for a few seconds, he kind of wanted to. 

Overall, separating Daisuke from his friends and capturing him had been absolute simplicity. Like with everything else, he made back-up plans, just in case the first one didn’t go off the way he wanted it to. In point of fact, this one hadn’t. He’d intended to take Daisuke in front of everyone else, to let them know that their precious leader now languished in one of his cells. 

Not that he would let Daisuke simply ‘languish’, but there wasn’t any reason not to let them think that. Hatred still burned low and hot within for everything that happened on that horrid day and he didn’t think he’d _ever_ get enough of avenging himself against Daisuke. The ultimate conquest of the Digital World would certainly manage it. Finding out if Daisuke could be useful in that was a special bonus, one might say. 

He tossed Daisuke onto the AirDramon and followed after him with a quick leap. Wormmon wriggled up a moment later, settling down behind him. He would be quiet and obedient for days after those few words of praise. He would need that quiet to work on the next stage of his plan. 

At a single motion, the AirDramon rose up until it cleared the treeline. He’d made certain this area was far enough from the sight of the other annoyances that even if they managed to see him, it was all but impossible that they would notice Daisuke with him as well. He didn’t _care_ if they knew, since it would increase their anger and frustration, but he could get so much more done if they were confused and worried first. 

Speaking of Daisuke, the other kept on wriggling, though he was tied up tightly enough that he couldn’t really accomplish much other than wearing himself out. Ken set one foot on him firmly. 

“You might as well relax. You’re not going anywhere except where I want you to go.” He didn’t expect the other to listen to him, and true to form, Daisuke just gave him what he supposed was meant to be a dirty look and kept on wriggling. “If you keep on doing that, you’re going to fall off. We’re high enough that you could very well die.” 

In point of fact, Ken wasn’t certain if people could die here after all, and had never felt the urge to test it. But if it kept Daisuke from falling off and breaking his stupid head wide open before Ken learned what he wanted to know, then it was worth saying something he didn’t know as absolute truth. 

Not to mention that even if people couldn’t die here, he wouldn’t put it past Daisuke to figure out a way to do it, just for the sake of contrariness. 

His fortress wasn’t all that far away; he’d brought it close for this very project. Once he had Daisuke inside, his friends could search for so long as they liked and they’d never find a trace of him anywhere. He knew how to hide himself from every form of searching they had, and they wouldn’t be able to locate his Digivice with all of his jamming methods. 

He’d used those same methods to make certain that Daisuke didn’t get any messages off to them. This was a private party and none of them were invited. 

Which reminded him. 

As the AirDramon swooped closer to home, Ken leaned down and slipped his hands through the bindings, searching. Daisuke’s eyes widened and he wriggled even more. Ken leaned forward, pressing more of his weight on his captive to keep him still. 

“That’s enough.” Ah, there they were. Daisuke still kept them in the same pocket that he had when Ken captured him the first time. Would the fool _never_ learn? 

Perhaps. If Ken had the teaching of him, he would. But now the Kaiser straightened up, Daisuke’s D-3 and D-Terminal in his hands. “You won’t need these while you’re with me.” He tucked them away into a fold of his cape. He had some plans for them as well, but that would have to wait until after he’d finished what he wanted to do with Daisuke. 

Once they whisked into the landing bay, there was a small burst of activity. Two Gotsumon stood awaiting him and Ken shoved his prisoner into their arms and stalked off toward the laboratory that he’d set up for this purpose. The Gotsumon followed, dragging Daisuke between them. 

“Hey!” Oh, it seemed Daisuke had managed to get his gag out. Now he would be graced with the brat’s blabber until he found a new one. Wormmon had already wriggled off to tend to his other duties, such as making certain there was food ready when Ken wanted it. Which wasn’t nearly as often as Wormmon thought he needed it, but Ken didn’t care. For the moment, the food could go to Daisuke. He would need it far more than Ken would. “Hey, I’m trying to talk to you! “Be quiet.” Ken snapped, not missing a stride. “Experiments don’t need to talk.” 

“Huh?” That was Daisuke’s very quick-witted and intelligent reply. About what Ken had expected. “Hey, I’m not an experiment!” 

“You are now. A very special experiment, too.” Ken smiled a slow smile, turning just so that Daisuke could see it. It must’ve given the reaction he wanted, since the other quailed back for a few heartbeats. 

“You are really, really twisted.” Daisuke muttered. He gave a few jerks, but nothing that even gave the Gotsumon a moment of trouble. Ken had chosen them for that purpose; they were both strong warriors who’d given him a great deal of amusement in the arena. Perfect for hauling around a brat who didn’t know his place. 

The lab held everything that he would need for this, which consisted of a table to strap Daisuke to, monitors for him to keep watch on Daisuke’s health and vital signs, and a few other odds and ends so he could create what he needed to test this out. 

He slipped a small knife into his hand and came over to stand in front of Daisuke. He didn’t usually use weapons like this, preferring his Digimon slaves or his mind, but it made for a little extra intimidation, and when one dealt with Daisuke, one needed all the intimidation that one could get. With one strong swipe he cut through the webbing. A startled noise was all that Daisuke had time to make before the Gotsumon dragged him over to the table and shoved him down on it at Ken’s gestured order. 

“You’ve been watching way too many bad science fiction movies!” Daisuke declared, wriggling far more as the Gotsumon fastened down the leather straps to keep him there. “What’s next, you’re going to conjure up a lightning storm and start screeching about how I’m alive?” 

Ken smiled again, and Daisuke didn’t look any happier about this one than he had before. “I would say that speaks more to what you’ve been watching than what I have. But, no. I have other plans for you.” 

“Hope you forgive me if I don’t bounce around in joy.” 

“I’ll think about it.” 

Daisuke strained harder at his bonds, but there wasn’t enough give for him to do anything and he sagged back down. At least he seemed to learn that much. Ken would take what he could get for now. The lessons would get harder as they progressed. 

Ken moved over to the waiting chair, keyboard and monitors in front of it, and hit the appropriate sequence. Pale shimmers of light moved over Daisuke, and his eyes followed them, squinting in worry. He had nothing to fret over; they were only to acquire the kind of information that Ken needed to begin everything. Not that Ken bothered to explain this. He liked seeing Daisuke worried and afraid. 

“What are you doing?” Daisuke tilted his head up in an attempt to watch his captor. Ken didn’t even bother to look at him. 

“Working.” There was so much that he planned, and some of it would involve simply training Daisuke to be much more obedient than he was at the moment. _That_ would likely be even harder than _making_ him obedient in the first place. But one way or the other, before Daisuke left the fortress again, he would obey Ken’s every command. 

* * *

Daisuke leaned his head back against the cool metal of the table and stared up into the lights. They didn’t hurt by any means, but he didn’t know what they were doing to him, and that kept him on edge. Ken’s lack of an ability to give him a straightforward answer didn’t help there either. He didn’t have a very good view of what the Kaiser was doing over there, no matter how much he wiggled. What he did have a good view of was Ken’s back, and that wasn’t interesting enough for him to keep looking at. 

He managed to look around the room, and guessed that the Gotsumon that had dragged him in here had left once their job was done. That was like Ken; he only wanted you around once he had a use for you. If you weren’t serving him, you weren’t worth his attention. 

The more he considered that, the less he liked it. Because that meant he had some use for Daisuke that might well be… 

No. Daisuke ground his teeth and shook his head. It didn’t matter what Ken wanted, this was something that he wasn’t going to get. He’d find a way to get out of there. He didn’t even want to think about the look on Jun’s face if he turned up late! Didn’t Ken understand what it was like to have an older sibling? 

The room darkened slightly as the lights faded, and Daisuke looked up to see what was going on. Ken hadn’t moved from where he sat, images flickering over the screens. Some of them seemed to look like people, or people-shaped things anyway. It was still hard for Daisuke to get a good look given his position. 

He wiggled his feet a little, wondering if he could get them free. For a moment or two he fantasized about yanking them out of the restraints and slamming into Ken’s head with all of his strength, running out of there and …well, he’d figure it out from there. He’d seen the fortress floating and knew how far above the ground they were. The idea of jumping to his doom didn’t appeal at all. Maybe he could borrow an AirDramon? He still hadn’t given up the notion of being able to knock one of those Rings or Spirals off himself, so maybe if he did, the Digimon would give him a lift? 

It wasn’t the worst plan he’d ever made in his life. If miracles happened, it might even have a chance of success. And right now, he didn’t have anything better to do. So he started working at his bonds all over again. Ken was too busy staring at his screens to notice anything. He could do this. He could get away. It would just take time. 

Now if Ken would just be kind enough to give him, that time. 

Oh, yeah. Bad guy. 

Not his day at all. 

**To Be Continued**


	3. Activation

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 3: Activation  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** 2,055||story: 6,549  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** [WIP, Ken  & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

One by one the Chosen Children and their partners drew back together again: or most of them did, anyway. Hikari glanced around, doing a quick headcount, and frowned. 

“Where’s Daisuke-kun? Isn’t he back yet?” 

Takeru frowned, thinking back. “I saw him when we all scattered. He was going that way.” He gestured off to the left, hoping as he did that their erstwhile leader would tumble out of the bushes and grin at them all, full of tales of how he’d escaped danger by the skin of his teeth yet again. 

Only Daisuke failed to do so, and as the minutes crept by, the tension inched higher. 

Takeru pulled out his D-Terminal and checked for messages. Aside from a note to himself that his mother wanted him to bring home milk, there wasn’t any sign of anything at all. 

“We’d better start looking for him.” Takeru held back a worried sigh. He’d seen the Kaiser in the area as the battle had begun, but once the attacks started flying and they’d all had to scatter to make certain they all made it out with everyone’s body parts attached in the right places, he’d lost sight of him. That hadn’t been so unusual, and Ken didn’t always stick around until after a fight anyway. But with Daisuke now missing, the thought wormed its way into the front of his head and refused to vanish. 

Miyako tapped a message on her own D-Terminal. “I bet he just got lost. He’s probably trying to figure out which way is north right now.” 

Takeru hoped that was true. It would be a lot better than some of the other things he could imagine that might be happening to Daisuke right now. 

* * *

Daisuke didn’t know how long it had been since he’d been tied down to this table. Ken still worked on whatever it was he was doing, paying almost no attention to him whatsoever. Daisuke liked it that way; it gave him the chance to keep working on his bonds. He thought he’d started to make some progress. It was hard for him to tell, since his arms were pulled above his head to the point he couldn’t really see them. But he tried anyway. 

“I brought dinner.” A quiet voice spoke up and Daisuke did his best to jump out of his skin. Being tied down made that harder than it sounded. He calmed down a heartbeat later when he realized it was Wormmon speaking. 

“What are you waiting for, then?” Ken snapped, not even looking up from his work. Daisuke couldn’t help but feel sorry for the little Digimon. He clearly deserved a kinder partner. “Feed it to him.” 

Wait, _what_? Daisuke lifted his head, trying to get a better look, and just managed to see a wheeled cart of some kind, with a tray of food on it. His stomach rumbled at the sight of it, and his throat burned even more than it had before when he saw a glass of water there. 

He heard annoyed mutters and some kind of odd sound he couldn’t place right away, not until he saw Wormmon wriggling up the side of the table. The small Digimon caught hold of the wheeled cart and pulled it closer. 

“Hi there,” he said, looking at Daisuke with the kindest blue eyes the human could remember seeing. “I’m supposed to feed you dinner.” 

Daisuke tilted his head a little. “It would be a lot easier on both of us if you untied me first.” Maybe it would work. 

“I’m sure it would.” Ken spoke up without lifting his eyes from his efforts. “But you’d being fed so I don’t have to worry about you being distracted later. You are not going to escape.” 

Well, it had been worth a shot. And an extra seasoning of ‘what in the world is he up to’ would just make dinner that much more enjoyable. Or something. 

Wormmon was amazingly clever with his pods, bringing morsels of food over to Daisuke carefully and setting them on his lips. Daisuke ate as much as he could, kind of amazed at just how good the food actually was. 

“Who made this?” He knew Ken couldn’t have. Not only would the Digimon Kaiser not lower himself to that point, but he’d never left the room since they’d arrived in it. 

“We have Veggimon in the kitchen,” Wormmon said. “They take care of everything like that.” 

Daisuke frowned. “I bet they’ve got those Rings on, don’t they?” 

“Well, yes.” Wormmon fidgeted, casting his eyes downward. “Ken doesn’t trust anyone but me near him without one.” 

That got a roll of Daisuke’s eyes. “If he were nicer about it, I bet he could.” 

“Why would I want to?” Ken stood up from his chair and took the three steps necessary to loom over Daisuke. He held something in his hands, something Daisuke couldn’t clearly see in the dim light, but which made him shudder all the same, just from the vague shape that he _could_ see. “And it’s time.” 

Daisuke swallowed. “Time for me to go home?” Ken could probably set him right out in his own room if he really wanted to. He wanted Ken to want that. 

Ken, however, wanted something else altogether as he moved closer. “No. Time for my experiment.” 

“I told you before, I’m not going to help you with that.” He knew he wasn’t being given a choice, but he wanted to make it as clear as he could that Ken would only do this by violence. 

Ken didn’t seem bothered by that at all. Each footstep he took echoed like thunder against Daisuke’s ears, and that shape in his hands became clearer and clearer. 

“I think I will need to upgrade this eventually, but I’m going to start off with something smaller first. That’s how a proper experiment is conducted, after all.” 

Daisuke swallowed again, hardly noticing when Wormmon wriggled off the table. All of his attention rested on Ken and what he held. 

_Oh, no. He isn’t doing this. This isn’t going to work. It can’t work._ He wasn’t a Digimon. This couldn’t work on him. There wasn’t any way that it could. This was just _wrong_. 

Regardless of what Daisuke thought, Ken unfastened one of the bonds holding Daisuke down, keeping a firm grip on his prisoner’s arm as he did, and slid the Evil Ring he held up to Daisuke’s upper arm. Then he tied Daisuke back down, as calmly as if this were no more an issue than changing a light bulb. 

“Get that thing off me!” Daisuke shouted, shaking and straining himself as hard as he could. He wanted out of here even more now! But the leather straps only moved a little, and not enough for him to escape. 

“No.” Ken plucked his D-3 from wherever it was he kept it and turned it toward Daisuke, a strange light beginning to emit from it. “In fact, I’m tired of you talking at all. Don’t say anything else unless I ask you a question or give you a command.” 

Daisuke started to open his mouth to say something in raw defiance. He didn’t know what he would say, but just the fact he would say something at all would be more than enough. 

The Ring on his arm pulsed in time with the light coming from Ken’s D-3. And Daisuke’s mouth and tongue froze. Not a single sound came out of him. 

His stomach plummeted. His heart raced. He tried again to say something, to make any kind of sound at all, and his body simply refused to co operate. He breathed harder, frantic to disobey Ken’s command, and completely unable to do so. 

Ken smiled. Daisuke hated the sight of the smile and wished he could do something to wipe it off Ken’s face. But his body didn’t do anything except lay there and breathe. 

“I think that’s a good beginning. But I want more,” Ken mused to himself. Daisuke did his best to heave upward, and his eyes widened in delight when he found he _could_ move, just a little! 

Ken, however, frowned more. “Stop that. Don’t move, except for breathing and blinking, unless you’re told to by me.” 

And Daisuke’s body obeyed, freezing precisely where it was. He wanted to think he would’ve kept on breathing even without Ken’s order, but he didn’t _know_ , and that sent chills sweeping through him from head to foot. 

Ken bent forward, taking a long look at him. Daisuke couldn’t tell what was going on his head, halfway because it was hard enough to see the Kaiser’s face behind those huge glasses, and halfway because even if he’d been psychic in the first place –which he wasn’t-, he was too busy freaking out over not being able to move. 

_Is this what all of those Digimon we fought felt like when they had their Rings on?_ Only Ken’s command kept him from hyperventilating and he wasn’t certain if that would hold him back that much longer. 

Ken seemed to come to some kind of a decision, one that he carried out as he reached over and unfastened the bindings on Daisuke. Daisuke tried to move, and found that he still couldn’t. Ken had given no orders to the contrary. 

“Stand up,” Ken said after several long quiet minutes. Daisuke wanted to jump to his feet and run for the door. What he actually did was stand up and face Ken. 

_No, no, no, no!_ The litany ran through his mind furiously and he strained with every ounce of his power to do something that Ken didn’t want him to do, no matter how small it might be. He’d settle for twitching a finger! 

But instead, he remained just as he was, his body awaited his next order. 

Ken’s lips curved upward for a heartbeat. “Kneel.” 

Oh, he should’ve seen _that_ coming, after what had happened with Deltamon and the fake prisoners! And just like then, with the exception of his body doing it because of the Ring, he got down on his knees before Ken, staring at the steel gray floor beneath him. 

He didn’t know what Ken had in mind, and if he could’ve tensed when footsteps drew nearer, he would have. Instead, he had to wait, and couldn’t jerk in surprise when Ken’s gloved hands touched the top of his head. 

“It works. It actually works.” Ken chuckled, the chuckle fading into a long, loud, triumphant laugh worthy of some of the better villains. “You’re going to do just as I tell you to do, aren’t you?” 

Daisuke found his lips moving. “Yes.” He fought to say something else, and realized that he could. “But I’m not going to like it.” 

Ken gave him a long, measuring look, and Daisuke decided he was grateful that he couldn’t shudder at that. It was bad enough Ken had this much control over him. He didn’t want to let the other know how upset he really was by this. 

“Perhaps you won’t. But I don’t care.” That smile made Daisuke want to crawl right out of his skin. “And I can make certain that you do.” 

Oh, no. Daisuke’s mental list of ‘things I did not want to hear from the Digimon Kaiser’ hit an all-time record. He strained even harder to fight against the control, but hitting a brick wall with his fist would’ve been more productive. More painful as well, since this didn’t _hurt_ so much as it frustrated and enraged him, but he would’ve welcomed the pain. 

“Follow me.” Ken ordered, gesturing for him to stand up. Apparently his controlled body understood the motion, since Daisuke rose up to his feet and followed his captor through shadowy hallways, until they stood in a room with more screens and a chair in front of them. 

Not just a chair, Daisuke realized, but a throne. This was as close to a throne room as the Digimon Kaiser gave himself. He would’ve loved the chance to look around and see what else he could find, but instead, he was gestured over to a place by the throne. 

“Wait there. I have plans to make for you.” 

Yeah, Daisuke really didn’t like the sound of that. _Come on, guys, where are you?_

**To Be Continued**


	4. Plan

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 4: Plan  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,136||story: 8,865  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** [WIP, Ken  & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

Ideas coursed their way through Ken’s mind as he examined all the possibilities open to him now. He wasn’t completely prepared to call the experiment a full success, not until he had his new possession fight against the Chosen Children without resisting him. That would be the biggest test of them all. So far, however, he was tentatively pleased. 

He didn’t have to look very far to see where Daisuke awaited his next command. He smiled a cruel smile; as much as he enjoyed seeing Digimon battle against one another at his command, this would be even more delicious: to see the Chosen fight against the one they called their leader. 

It would likely be even more delicious than seeing him suffer trying to decide which one of them he could save, and this time there wouldn’t be any hassles with deceptions being uncovered. 

That was where part of this idea came from. One was the simple curiosity to see if his rings could function on humans while they were in the Digital World. Another was to extract even more revenge on Daisuke for the humiliation of that day. So far, he’d succeeded admirably there. The major problem of that day had been that Daisuke’s friends had escaped their little holding area before he’d had a chance to complete everything he’d had in mind. That wouldn’t happen this time. 

Daisuke stood where he’d been ordered, fury still evident in his eyes, but unmoving and obedient. Ken had programmed this particular ring very carefully to make certain that his eyes didn’t turn red the way the Digimon did. That was part of what had taken him so long to get this worked out; any kind of change in the programming had to be done with care to make certain everything still worked the way that he wanted it to. But he wanted to see Daisuke’s reactions, to an extent. He wanted to know that the fierce fighter who had stood up against him was still in there, fully aware of what was going on and unable to stop any of it. 

“Kneel down here,” Ken ordered, pointing to a spot a little closer. Something dark and cold inside of him twisted and purred as Daisuke did so, the rage in his eyes mounting. His expression remained as blank as it had since the moment Ken activated the Ring, but that was quite all right. It served as a mark of Ken’s mastery of the situation. 

With Daisuke in touching range now, Ken rested one gloved hand on the other’s head, while he continued to type with the other. This was more difficult, but given that it established another layer of dominance over Daisuke, he was willing to put up with it for a little while. 

Now, he needed to work out the final details of his plan. He’d kept everything as fluid as he could until now, not wanting to get fixated on anything until he was certain it could work. _This will be their final hour._ After this, he could go on to establish his complete control over the entire Digital World, without anyone to stop him. 

And it would all be brought about because of Daisuke. Ken couldn’t possibly have been more proud of him. Or of himself. 

* * *

“So, no one’s picked up any trace of Daisuke since the fight got started,” Takeru said. “And he’s nowhere around here.” 

V-mon nodded, drooping some as he did. “I found his scent but it kind of faded out after he ran through a stream.” 

“Couldn’t you pick it up on the other side?” Iori wondered, trying not to look as if he were as worried as he was. 

“I tried, but I couldn’t find it again. It’s really weird. Nothing like this has ever happened before.” V-mon fidgeted, far more worried about his partner than he’d ever been before. 

Miyako paced up and down, eyes flashing bright with annoyance. “What kind of a game does he think he’s playing?” 

“I don’t think this is Daisuke’s game,” Hikari said, hints of worry in her tone. “This has the Kaiser all over it.” 

Miyako stopped in her tracks and stared at the other. “What?” 

“Look at it.” Hikari waved one hand all around them. “We’re attacked, and it’s not just any attack, it’s one designed so we have to separate from each other just to stay alive. How often does that happen?” 

Quiet murmurs and worried looks agreed with her. It was one of Ken’s tactics, but not one that he used very often when he brought his forces to bear on them. To see it done now didn’t, _couldn’t_ mean anything good. She continued. 

“And then, Daisuke just _vanishes_ , and Ken doesn’t bother to stick around to see how the fight ends. I know he doesn’t most of the time, but with Daisuke gone now, it just doesn’t feel right.” 

“So you think he’s chasing Daisuke around somewhere?” Iori offered. He didn’t completely believe that. None of them did. Ken didn’t bother to _chase_. He took what he wanted, when he wanted it. 

“Let’s hope that’s all that he’s doing.” Takeru nodded as he spoke. Chasing was something they could handle. Chasing was something they could help with. The other options weren’t so cheerful. 

Miyako stomped one foot on the ground. “Then let’s go find them and prove to that guy that he doesn’t get to use us as playtoys!” 

“Right!” 

* * *

Daisuke wasn’t sure if he should be grateful or not that he couldn’t scream himself raw at the moment. He wanted to and it would’ve been an incredible release to do so. But on the other hand, that would have meant he had a raw throat and Ken wasn’t being as generous with the food and water as he’d been before. 

Just the touch of Ken’s hand on his head was enough to make him want to howl. It was bad enough the Kaiser had ordered him to _kneel_ , like he was some kind of a slave, but then to _pet him_? 

Yeah, the moment he got the chance, he was punching Ken’s face in so hard that it would turn inside out. 

He’d already made half a dozen plans on how to get Ken back for this. He didn’t know which one of them he would pick just yet, but he’d do one of them, and Ken wouldn’t ever want to do this to any of them ever again! 

Ken’s hand moved through his hair a little more and Daisuke had never wanted to do anything so much as he wanted to snap and bite at him, not caring if Ken would bother with any tamed beast taunts or not. He wanted that hand off him! 

“It’s almost time for you to meet your friends again, Daisuke.” 

What? Oh, no. He did _not_ want to see them, not while he still had this _thing_ on him, not while Ken still pulled his strings! 

But none of that could make it past his lips and for all that he strained to get up and run away, his body remained just where it was, waiting for Ken’s next order. 

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to have you kill them.” Ken chuckled at that, as if it were some kind of sick joke only he’d find funny. “I’m going to reserve that pleasure all for myself.” 

Oh, like that made it any better. Daisuke would’ve ground his teeth if he could. He still didn’t like the idea that the others would see him like this. 

Though perhaps that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. They could break the Ring and get him out of this. It would be embarrassing, but nothing he couldn’t deal with. They’d all saved each other before, this wouldn’t be anything too new. 

“Now, I have a few orders for you before we leave.” Ken’s hand left Daisuke’s head and motioned abruptly in a way that the ring seemed to understand, since Daisuke found himself standing up and turning to face the Kaiser. “And you’re going to carry them out perfectly.” 

Of course he would, Daisuke mentally groaned. It wasn’t as if the Ring would give him any options on that. 

* * *

The Digital World’s sun dropped closer and closer to the horizon, but the Chosen still searched around in increasingly vain attempts to locate Daisuke. Messages had been sent home to cover for them, which was easier for some than others. 

“Is there any reason we can’t tell our families about the Digital World?” Iori wanted to know. He didn’t want to give up searching, but he knew he would have to go home soon. Dinner called, and homework. The thought of leaving Daisuke in the Digital World overnight didn’t sit well with him, but if they couldn’t find him, what else could they do? 

“Well, my mom and dad kind of know about it,” Takeru admitted. “We don’t talk about it, but they found out about Digimon during the attack a few years ago.” 

Iori and Miyako exchanged a quick look, aching to know more about this. The chance to ask didn’t come, however, as there was a sudden unexpected call from a short distance away. 

“Hey, guys!” 

Everyone stared. Miyako took a step forward, jaw open to say something, but none of it actually making its way out of her mouth. 

Daisuke blinked a few times as he looked from one of them to the other. “What? Something wrong?” 

“Where have you been?” Hikari managed to ask, trying to wave Miyako off from where she looked about ready to jump over and strangle him on the spot. “We thought maybe the Kaiser…” 

Daisuke waved one hand, the other going to the back of his head as he laughed. “Nah, I just got a little lost. It took a while for me to find my way back here, that’s all.” 

“Well, if that’s all it was, then I really need to get going home.” Iori said, not quite taking his eyes off Daisuke. This felt just a little off. A little too convenient. 

“You can’t go just yet. I found something you should really have a look at it,” Daisuke said, beckoning toward them. “It’s out of this world.” 

“Whatever it is, can’t it wait?” Miyako folded her arms over her chest and gave Daisuke one of her best glares. “Cause I need to go get dinner, and if it’s still going to be here tomorrow, then I’m _going_.” 

“It can’t wait. It might not be here tomorrow.” Daisuke beckoned again. “Trust me, this is nothing you guys have ever seen before. I’ve never seen it before.” 

“If you haven’t, then how do you know we have or not?” Miyako grumped, but started to move forward. “This better be really good. If I miss dinner and it’s not, you’re going to make up for it. You’re going to buy all of this week’s snack at our store, from your money.” 

“It’s a deal!” Daisuke moved on ahead of them, not moving so fast that they couldn’t keep up, but not dawdling, either. V-mon hurried to catch up to him, tugging at his hand with one paw. 

Or he tried to; the moment that his hand touched Daisuke’s, V-mon pulled it back with a startled noise. 

“V-mon?” Daisuke looked down at him, confusion writ large in his eyes. “Everything all right?” 

“I…I think so.” V-mon stared at his paw, then back up at his partner. “It was like some kind of weird spark or something. Never felt anything like that.” He shook his paw a little. “Are you sure you’re all right?” 

“Of course I am! Why wouldn’t I be?” Daisuke shrugged, then gestured ahead of him to a grove of trees that looked vaguely, but not entirely unlike, oaks. “It’s in there! There’s a little clearing on the other side.” 

Everyone hurried up, eager to see whatever it was that Daisuke had to show them, and then to get out of there and go home. Takeru still lingered in the back of the group, and Hikari cast a glance back at him. 

“Something wrong?” 

“I don’t know. He says everything’s all right, but I just don’t trust it,” Takeru said. “I probably shouldn’t worry so much, should I?” His tone suggested that he wanted Hikari to tell him that he shouldn’t. That he was making too much out of this. 

Instead, she watched where Daisuke headed with a thoughtful frown. “I don’t know. But it wouldn’t hurt to be careful. Remember what the Kaiser did with those Bakemon.” 

Takeru would never forget that. Seeing himself hanging all tied up like that… “Come on, let’s catch up.” If this were one of Ken’s tricks, they could fight it best by all of them being together. 

**To Be Continued**


	5. Exposure

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 5: Exposure  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,168||story: 11,033  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** [WIP, Ken  & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

Something was wrong with Daisuke. V-mon could tell. He wasn’t sure what it was, but his partner didn’t act like himself at all, and hadn’t since he turned back up from wherever he’d been. He hadn’t missed what the humans figured, that the Kaiser was somehow responsible for Daisuke’s disappearance. And he’d been gone for _hours_ and _hours_. 

Well, probably not quite that long, but long enough for the Kaiser to have done something. V-mon couldn’t stop himself from shivering when he thought about having to step on his partner that horrible day. It had been weeks, but he _still_ woke up at times in the night, shaking in terror. 

He looked down at his paw as they moved through the trees to the clearing Daisuke wanted to take them to. He’d never felt anything like that before when he’d touched Daisuke’s hand. It almost reminded him of what it felt like to attack a Digimon who had an Evil Ring or Spiral on. A sudden sharpness, one that put him on edge, to know that such a horrible thing was so close to him. 

_Maybe he’s a Bakemon in disguise?_ It wouldn’t be the first time that the Kaiser pulled a nasty trick like that on them. Which could mean that either the real Daisuke would come running up at any time or that he had the real Daisuke prisoner somewhere else. 

Either way, V-mon didn’t like it. He didn’t know who to bring this up to; Daisuke, real or otherwise, was too close, and they were almost to where he wanted to go anyway. So they might not have the time to get this sorted out. 

“All right, are we there yet?” Miyako grouched as they crossed through the trees and to the clearing. “Seriously, I want to go get dinner! Don’t want to stay around here all day.” 

“You’re not going to have to worry about that,” Daisuke said, a strange sort of edge to his tone. “Not anymore.” 

Everyone froze. No one liked the sound of his voice, V-mon least of all. He shifted nervously and looked around at the others. “Guys, I think…” 

“Whatever it is, you’re wrong. Unless you think that you’re in a lot of trouble.” The Digimon Kaiser’s voice cracked through the clearing, and a host of red-eyes, be-ringed and be-spiralled Digimon sprang up all around them. “Because you _are_ in a lot of trouble.” 

The Chosen Children and their partners pressed close together, with the exception of Daisuke. V-mon caught a glimpse of his face, and his heart sank down to see how blank the other was. As if he were some kind of a robot and his on-button had been clicked off. 

“Daisuke!” Miyako grabbed for the nearest stray branch and waved it at him in dire threat. “What do you think you’re doing? This isn’t some kind of a game!” 

“I beg to differ. This is a game, and since I’ve captured one of your best players, it’s a game that I’m going to win.” The Kaiser’s voice came from above, and now they saw him, standing on top of an AirDramon’s head. 

“What are you talking about, captured?” Takeru shouted, his D-3 in his hand and Patamon still seated on his head, ready to evolve at a moment’s notice. None of them wanted to believe a word Ken said. He had to be talking about Daisuke, but Daisuke wasn’t a prisoner, he was right there. Something didn’t add up. 

Unfortunately, Ken was very good at addition, division, and subtraction, among other things. 

“Come here, Daisuke.” 

The AirDramon lowered himself to the ground even as Ken spoke, and without a moment’s hesitation, Daisuke came over to Ken. At a gesture, he slipped down to his knees in front of the Kaiser, and unlike the time they all remembered, he showed not a breath of reluctance or anger. Truth to be told, he didn’t look happy about this, either. He looked…blank was the only word that came to Takeru’s mind, and blank wasn’t a word that anyone associated with Daisuke, unless they were trying to say what he wasn’t. 

“What did you do to him?” Takeru didn’t entirely howl the word but he wanted to. Ken had done _something_ , that was obvious. The question was what, and how could they fix it, and preferably make it blow up in Ken’s face to the point he’d never want to try this again. 

Ken reached down to trace his fingers through Daisuke’s hair. One and all the Chosen and their partners learned a new definition of nauseating, especially V-mon. To see his partner having to submit to that touch was even _worse_ than having stepped on him! 

“I don’t think that really matters to you. What does matter is how you’re going to defeat all of my Digimon when you aren’t at your full strength and it would take me approximately thirty seconds to have V-mon as my slave as well.” 

V-mon yelped, hands clenching quickly into fists. “No you won’t!” He wouldn’t _ever_ work for the Kaiser, not even if there were a thousand Evil Rings and Spirals on him! 

“I wouldn’t be so certain of that if I were you.” Ken tightened his grip on Daisuke’s hair, but the Chosen didn’t so much as flinch. “What would you do for me if I told you that if you _didn’t_ do as I say, then your precious Daisuke here paid the price for it?” 

V-mon faded from blue to gray in a single breath. “You wouldn’t…” 

“Perhaps I would, perhaps I wouldn’t.” Ken shrugged, lightening his touch a trifle. “But the point is that I could. And right now, I _don’t_ want you to do anything at all. Do you understand?” 

V-mon opened his mouth, then closed it again, miserable. He saw what the Kaiser meant right away. The others could fight, would fight. But he couldn’t. He wasn’t sure what good he could do without Daisuke anyway, and Daisuke clearly wasn’t going to be going up against the Kaiser in this fight, even if he couldn’t figure out why. 

` “Don’t worry about it, V-mon!” Iori declared, taking a step forward. 

Miyako nodded, her own D-3 out now, and Hawkmon flapping beside her. “We can handle this! No problem!” 

“I think you’re going to have quite a few more problems than you think. But go ahead.” Ken waved one hand as if granting permission, either for them to do battle or for his enslaved army to attack. Whichever one he meant, the Chosen took the opportunity to evolve their partners. In the space of six heartbeats, Pegasumon, Nefertimon, Digmon, and Holsmon hovered near their partners. 

“You try to see if you can find out what’s going on with Daisuke,” Takeru ordered, looking toward V-mon. “We’ll take care of these guys!” 

Waiting no longer, they all charged into battle, striking at the Evil Rings and Spirals as best that they could. It wasn’t easy; once their new war had begun, the Kaiser made a point of ordering his minions to avoid situations where their Rings or Spirals could be easily removed. Thus why they had to fight to make certain the enslaved Digimon would hold still long enough for the control devices to shatter. 

V-mon’s attention flickered back and forth between the two situations. As much as he wanted to pull Daisuke away from the Kaiser and join in the fight, it wasn’t going to do any good if he didn’t know what was going on. Was the Kaiser blackmailing Daisuke somehow? 

“Daisuke,” he murmured, shifting a little closer. The other didn’t even look up, all of his attention focused on Ken, even as his gaze remained on the ground. 

“He’s not going to pay any attention to you,” the Kaiser told him, not even bothering to look away from where his minions fought the Chosen Children. So far not a single Ring or Spiral had been removed, but the battle was still young. V-mon knew his friends would win in the end; they always did. 

He would’ve felt much better about it if he’d been able to help them fight. 

“Why not?” V-mon stared harder at Daisuke, looking for any sign that this wasn’t his actual partner. Everything looked the same. It even smelled the same. He hadn’t been able to smell the Digimon that disguised themselves as the other Chosen that one time because he hadn’t been close enough to them, and the wind had been in the wrong quarter anyway. But now he was close enough to Daisuke, and had been close enough before, and the wind was in his favor. 

And everything that he smelled and heard and saw told him that this _was_ his partner. Which made everything make absolutely no sense whatsoever. 

“Because I don’t want him to, and he’ll do anything and everything that I tell him to.” Ken’s smile sliced across his lips, a blaze of pride and triumph. “I much prefer him like this than he was before. Don’t you, V-mon?” 

“Of course not!” V-mon shook his head and dared another step closer. “Why would I want him to listen to you?” 

“Because he’s much quieter like this. He listens to someone who knows better than he does and he’s not so much of a thorn in my side.” Ken’s lip curled in contempt. “I don’t think I’ll ever give him back. He’s much more _useful_ like this as well.” 

“I don’t like what you’re using him for!” V-mon shouted, hoping to get some kind of a reaction out of Daisuke. No matter what he said, though, his partner remained a kneeling silent statue at the Digimon Kaiser’s feet. 

“I don’t care what you like. And stay back from him or you’ll get hurt.” The Kaiser didn’t sound as if he were warning V-mon in the interests of sparing him pain, but telling him simply what would happen regardless. V-mon didn’t like it. He didn’t think he’d liked a single thing happening this day since that first attack when they’d lost track of Daisuke. 

He had to do something. He couldn’t just stand here and let Ken get away with everything. The other Chosen had moved onward some, keeping an eye on their partners while they battled. One or two of the Rings and Spirals had been broken, but since Ken’s army included roughly thirty Tyrannomon and a half dozen or more other types, that was little more than a drop in the proverbial bucket. 

He had to help, that was what he had to do. He had to help end this fight, and the only way he could do that was to tackle Daisuke and snap him out of whatever spell the Kaiser had put him under. 

V-mon bunched himself up. He hoped Daisuke would forgive him after all of this. He probably would; Daisuke was a forgiving soul. He’d probably even forgive the Kaiser for this. 

He didn’t let himself think about it for more than a few seconds. Instead, he charged forward, head aimed directly at Daisuke’s midsection. 

_If this goes really wrong, I hope he throws up on the Kaiser and not me._

That was the last thought that V-mon gave himself time for before he plowed directly into Daisuke. The captive human rolled over, with more reaction coming from the Kaiser than from him, in the form of a furious shout. 

“What do you think you’re doing? You don’t harm other people’s property, especially not _my_ property! 

V-mon settled back on his feet and ignored the shouting human in favor or Daisuke, who slowly sat back up. “Daisuke? Are you…are you you again?” He didn’t know what else to ask. He could see he’d torn the other’s shirt, and really hoped that would fix itself somehow. Whatever Daisuke wore on Earth always changed itself into his Digital World clothes, so probably it would. Somehow. 

He also knew he was distracting himself, trying not to think of how the blank look in Daisuke’s eyes hadn’t changed, not even as he got to his feet. 

“Daisuke!” The Kaiser’s voice cracked with command. “Come over here right now.” 

V-mon wished with every scrap of his soul that Daisuke would do something else. Anything else. That even if he came over to the Kaiser, he would shove him over or shout against him or anything to show that he wasn’t a prisoner anymore. 

Instead, Daisuke came quietly over and dropped back to his knees, head bent as reverently as it had before. Ken rested his hand on Daisuke’s head, a smug smirk now on his lips. 

“See? Nothing you can do can take him away from his master.” 

V-mon’s heart sank, but not just from Ken’s words. He did indeed see, and thought he saw more than the Kaiser wanted him to. Because now, through Daisuke’s torn shirt, he saw a sight he had never seen on a human, and never knew could happen. 

Daisuke wore an Evil Ring. 

**To Be Continued**


	6. Attempt

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 6: Attempt  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,189||story: 13,222  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** [WIP, Ken  & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

Takeru gripped Pegasumon’s mane in an attempt to think more about this battle than about Ken and Daisuke and V-mon. He wanted to plow his fist directly into Ken’s face and make him undo whatever it was he’d done to Daisuke in the first place. Rage simmered through his veins, awaiting just the right moment to burst forth, but he fought to hold it back. He wasn’t doing a very good job of it, but he made the attempt. 

For now, he channeled it through the fight. “Think you can get those?” He jerked one hand toward a small collection of Tyrannomon only a short distance way. Flying gave them a better shot in this fight; their real problem was how outnumbered they were. Takeru shuddered to think of how this fight could’ve gone under other circumstances, such as a blind canyon. 

Pegasumon steadied himself in the air, focusing on the leader of the Tyrannomon pack. “Let’s find out!” 

Emerald green energy gathered at the triangle on his helmet, then shot forward at the winged stallion’s command of “Silver Blaze!” The attack struck the leader’s Evil Ring, which shattered under the pressure. 

“All right!” Takeru pumped one fist in delight. “One down, a lot more to go!” And the sooner they got onto this, the better. He wanted to find out what V-mon had learned about what was going on with Daisuke. 

He did spare a glance downward as Pegasumon began to strike more and more of the enemy Digimon, each attack destroying a Ring when it hit. He didn’t know if Ken made them weaker these days or if their Digimon were stronger now, since it hadn’t been like this when they’d first started this war. 

He could see that Daisuke still knelt by Ken, which didn’t make Takeru any happier about any of this, and V-mon stared at them, frozen in shock. 

_What happened?_ That one question continued to ring through his mind. He wanted to jump down and find out, but someone had to watch Pegasumon’s back, and everyone else was too busy with their own fights to do this for him. 

That was probably why Ken had designed this attack in the first place. That, and to show off whatever he’d done to Daisuke. Keeping them occupied gave him a chance to gloat and maybe even take one or two of them out if everything went wrong for them. 

_Well, that’s not going to happen._ He wouldn’t let it happen. He’d charge down onto Ken and take _him_ out personally if he had to. Not that the idea hadn’t occurred to him before, but the Kaiser very seldom faced them in battle these days, and even more seldom let himself get close enough for an attack. 

He’d done it now, though, and Takeru decided in the depths of his heart that he was going to make Ken regret it. Every bit as much as he would regret capturing Daisuke and doing whatever it was he’s done to him. 

“Takeru!” Only weeks of practice kept him on Pegasumon’s back as one of the still-Ringed Tyrannomon shot a Fire Breath toward them. The blond caught his breath as best he could; he needed to focus on his current fight, not the one he planned to have later. “Are you all right?” 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Takeru said, readjusting his grip on Pegasumon’s mane. Some days he wondered which of them worried about the other more. “I think we need to finish these guys up and go see what everyone else is doing.” 

The idea of not rushing to help Daisuke at once grated at him, but for now, Daisuke wasn’t in danger of being killed. Ken wouldn’t want to lose his new toy. 

Just thinking those words sent another jolt of fury through him, and Takeru never could figure out how he fought it down. Maybe he didn’t. Maybe he just shifted it yet again to something else. 

_He’ll use Daisuke as a hostage if it’s just one of us. If we have more, then we can distract him, get Daisuke away from him._ He wasn’t sure of how good of a plan it was, but it would do until they could come up with something better. 

Going off half-cocked into this wouldn’t do anyone any good, really. He had to think clearly. They’d never really set up a command structure, but there was a sort of understanding among them all that if anything happened to Daisuke, then he would take charge. They’d never once thought something would actually happen so he _would_ have to. 

With that lurking in the back of his mind, Takeru focused on the actual battle. Swoops and dives and blasts, dodging out of the way of attacks sent back to him, and every so often catching a glimpse of what seemed to be a kind of stand-off between the Kaiser and V-mon, just enough to make him wonder what was going on and not enough to give him any real answers… 

“You take that off of him!” V-mon’s voice cracked through the air, drawing attention from all over the battlefield. “You take that off him right now!” 

The Kaiser laughed, pitched lower but as audible as the Digimon’s demand. “Why would I do that? I told you already that I like him much better the way that he is now. He’s not going to get in the way of my plans anymore. Maybe I’ll even set you all up with them. I don’t really need the help, but it would get you of my hair.” 

Takeru scanned the area; so far as he could tell, everyone had finished mopping up their opponents. Ken had provided numbers instead of sheer strength this time, and he didn’t think anyone here didn’t look in need of at least two good meals and a weekend of deep sleep, including himself. 

And they still needed to get Daisuke back. 

That wouldn’t happen if they didn’t keep going, though. Maybe he’d treat himself and Patamon to three good meals after this. His mom would happily provide the meals. She didn’t like to talk about the Digimon, but she never let Patamon go hungry, either. 

Slowly the small group gathered behind V-mon. Takeru didn’t have to wait to find out what was going on; the small blue Digimon scurried right over to him as soon as he slipped off. 

“Takeru! An Evil Ring! On Daisuke!” V-mon’s paws flapped in Daisuke’s direction and Takeru followed the motion. He hadn’t entirely processed what V-mon said, but it all snapped into place when he saw the ring of black around Daisuke’s arm. 

Shadows filled his mind in a heartbeat. It wasn’t Daisuke he saw before them, held to someone else’s will by the power of evil. It was Leomon, filled to the brim with Devimon’s Black Gears, skin and fur rippling in shades of gray, an angry roar on his lips as he fought and failed against the power holding him. 

“Takeru! Takeru!” Miyako shook his arm and he blinked, trying to shake the image away. He knew it was little more than a memory, but getting his head and his heart to agree wasn’t easy. “Are you all right?” 

He drew in a breath, keeping his eyes turned to his friends and away from the nightmare in front of him. “Yeah. I’m fine.” 

He didn’t like the look Pegasumon was giving him, and Hikari and Iori didn’t look as if they entirely trusted his words, either. He didn’t think he was that surprised. But more important matters called for their attention. 

Takeru’s shoulders tensed as he turned toward Ken and his prisoner. Daisuke hadn’t moved, still on his knees by Ken, eyes cast downward. Now that he knew what was going on, Takeru’s stomach churned even more at the sight. This was so against everything Daisuke was, fire and flash and fury, that he couldn’t bring himself to think of the motionless boy _as_ Daisuke. 

“What do you want to let him go?” Takeru didn’t intend to give it, whatever it was, but he asked, just to buy time for them to figure out a better way. 

Ken’s gloved hands moved more through Daisuke’s hair, and Takeru hissed between his teeth. He hoped that Daisuke wasn’t aware of what was going on. He didn’t want to think of the other trapped in his own skin, unable to do anything, and feeling the Kaiser’s hands on him. 

“What makes you think I want to let him go? Or that you have anything that I want? I could tell you to stop fighting me, but what would be the fun in that? I’m not going to win this game because you quit.” 

Miyako took three quick steps forward, stopping only when Ken’s fingers tightened in Daisuke’s hair in clear warning. “This isn’t a game!” 

“It is for me,” Ken said. He tugged on Daisuke’s hair and the other stood up. “And I would say that right now, I’m winning. Do you really think there’s any way that you can stop me now?” 

_The D-3s?_ Perhaps it was the memory of Leomon that brought the thought to mind, but Takeru’s fist tightened around his own. They’d worked against the Black Gears. They’d never tried them on Ken’s Rings and Spirals before. 

“If we did, do you think we’d tell you?” Iori asked, a thoughtful gleam in his eyes. “That wouldn’t be very good strategy, would it?” 

The expression Ken’s lips twisted into wasn’t exactly a smile, but it tried to look like one nevertheless. “Perhaps not. But whatever you try, you can’t win.” 

“We won’t know until we try,” Hikari said. “And we’re going to try no matter what!” 

Takeru didn’t bother with saying anything else. More words would just give Ken a chance to get away with Daisuke. He didn’t know if this would work, and he didn’t care. He had to try. They didn’t have any other options, and letting Ken get away with Daisuke wasn’t on his list of what to do with his evening. 

He jerked his D-3 out of his pocket and concentrated with every ounce of strength within himself. _Help him! Break the Ring!_

Emerald green light glimmered deep within the D-3, then blasted forward, slamming directly into Daisuke, knocking him back from Ken. The Kaiser snarled something Takeru chose not to listen to very clearly, reaching out toward his prisoner at the same time. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” He spared a quick glance for Takeru before he started after Daisuke again. 

“I want to know the same thing!” Miyako declared, gaze moving quickly between Daisuke and Takeru. “What are you doing?” 

“Trying to help him!” Takeru had to keep as much focus as he could on the D-3, pouring all of his energy into it. Daisuke didn’t even try to move, though Takeru couldn’t be certain if that was because he didn’t want to or because he couldn’t without Ken’s orders. 

The Kaiser’s hand gripped down firmly on Daisuke’s shoulder and pulled him away from the beam. Takeru stumbled back as the connection was broken, breathing hard. Whatever happened, he knew that he’d done his best. It was all up to Daisuke now. 

One of Daisuke’s hands flew up to grip around Ken’s wrist, trying to shove it away. Takeru’s heart lodged in his throat. Had he done it? Really? 

“Daisuke.” Ken’s growl rumbled deep in his throat. “What do you think you’re doing?” 

Daisuke said nothing at all in response as he started to push himself to his feet, legs trembling and unsteady. The Ring on his arm cracked without warning, and emotion flooded back into Daisuke’s features, a mixture of relief and revulsion. 

“How _dare_ you!” Ken jerked his head around to glare furiously at Takeru. “You’ll pay for this!” 

“Do you take checks? I’m a little short on cash at the moment.” Takeru could not help the smirk that flashed over his lips. It was almost over. They just had to get Daisuke away from Ken completely, and they could go home. 

“Takeru…” Daisuke shuddered, shaking his head, and started to take a step away. He couldn’t entirely make it before his legs crumpled underneath him and his eyes closed. 

Everyone started to move, but none of them were close enough to stop Ken before he snatched Daisuke back into his grasp and leaped for the AirDramon still resting on the ground not that far away. 

“I don’t give up my prizes that easily. And now that I know your little toys can do that, I’ve got some adjustments to make. Don’t expect to ever see him on _your_ side again,” Ken gloated, holding Daisuke close in a grip that the other couldn’t have broken even if he’d been awake. He stomped one foot on the AirDramon, sending it rising into the air. 

Scarcely a breath passed before Takeru, Hikari, and Miyako dashed after him, Pegasumon, Nefertimon, and Holsemon soaring through the air as quickly as they could. Iori stayed with V-mon, worried eyes following the others as they vanished out of sight. 

**To Be Continued**


	7. Escape

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 7: Escape  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,266||story: 15,488  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** [WIP, Ken  & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

“Master, they're following us." 

Ken snarled at Wormmon's report; couldn't these idiots realize that they'd lost? He still had Daisuke and there wasn't anything that they could do to change that. Yet they failed, as they always did, to realize that they were outmatched and outthought in every possible way. What did he have to do to convince them of that? 

Whatever it was, the moment he figured out what it was, he would do it. How could he conquer the Digital World if they kept on bothering him? Didn't they realize how important this was? 

The Kaiser drew in a sharp breath of air and snapped out his orders. "Have the AirDramon, GigaDramon, and MegaDramon keep them away from us until we're out of sight." 

He didn't want his enemies finding out his base's true nature. That was part of how he stayed ahead of them; they couldn't try to sneak into it while he was away from it, which meant he always had a secure base to plan from. 

It was only fair; he didn't know anything but the most base facts about them. He _could_ learn more, especially now that he had Daisuke under his thumb, but the idea didn't appeal to him. He didn't _want_ to know what they were like when they weren't in the Digital World. He didn't _care_ about them when they weren't fighting him. If he could pass them on the street still, he would ignore them. 

His airborne troops zoomed past him, intent on battling the Chosen until either their Rings and Spirals were broken or they defeated their master's enemies. Ken allowed himself a small smile at the thought. No matter what happened he would still win. If their Rings and Spirals were broken, he could simply come along later and reapply them. If his enemies were defeated...well, that said enough all by itself. Really, this whole situation was a complete win for him, and all that remained was for those enemies to actually wise up and realize it. 

He turned his attention to the unconscious brunet in his arms, frowning as he did. What in the world had the blond done that made the Ring crack in the first place? 

_I've never seen anything like that before._ He glanced at his own D-3. _I'll test Daisuke's and see what I can find out from that._ He'd already looked once before to determine if his towers could block Armor Evolution the way they did ordinary evolution, but to no avail. He supposed that was to be expected; it made everything just that little bit more challenging. 

But now he had to find out if there was a way the D-3s could be stopped from breaking his other tools as well. It was annoying enough that they broke them in battle. If all his enemies needed to do was wave their devices at his troops, then this war could get very annoying very quickly. 

As for Daisuke himself...it would be back on the table until he had a fresh plan of attack decided upon. He did like the idea of keeping the boy locked up somewhere, but not where he couldn't keep an eye on him. He'd made that mistake with Agumon. The Digimon Kaiser didn't repeat his errors. 

* * *

Daisuke wasn't certain of when he started to come around again. His head swam and wind rushed past his ears, and the combination of that didn't make him want to open his eyes any time soon. He'd never been airsick before and he didn't think now would be a good time to break his record. Though if he could get some of it on Ken, it would be _totally_ worth it. 

He could tell without opening his eyes that he was still Ken's prisoner, as much as he hoped otherwise. No one else he knew had the same kind of powerful grip or the armored gloves that Ken wore. He could also hear Wormmon talking, and as much as he liked the little bug, he knew if Wormmon were around, then Ken was around. 

Slowly he began to piece together what had happened. They'd been with the rest of his friends. As much as he'd wanted to, he hadn't been able to do _anything_ that Ken didn't tell him to, and if he'd been able to scream, he would've howled himself hoarse because of that. 

Ken wanted him to watch them all die, completely unable to stop it. He still wasn't sure of how it hadn't happened, except that the others could still fight hard even without him. He wanted to smile at that. If he hadn't been so tired, he would have. 

But he was that tired, and he had to wonder if it was because of all the failed fighting he'd done while the Ring was on him. 

_Wonder if I get to have a nap before Ken starts trying to play mad scientist again._ Somehow, he didn't think Ken would be all that appreciative of his prisoner's desire to close his eyes and snatch about forty winks. It didn't fit his ego. 

Well, tough. Daisuke followed school rules only when he absolutely had to; there was no way he wasn't going to go out of his way to avoid the rules of someone he _really_ didn't like, and Ken topped the list of people he _really_ didn't like. 

Ken was going to put another Ring on him; Daisuke didn't doubt that at all. He was no rocket scientist himself, but what other reason could there be for still keeping him instead of just flouncing off in a huff the minute his prisoner was free? So, yeah, there were going to be a lot worse times to come. And grabbing a nap sounded like a really good way to deal with them for now. 

Besides, what else could he do? He wasn't even sure if he could stand up on his own two feet just yet. From the moment the Ring had cracked, every ounce of his strength just faded out of him. He hadn't ever noticed any Digimon who reacted like that, so maybe it was a human thing? 

_Maybe I should go ask some human about it. Oh, wait, I'm the only one this has ever happened to. Crud._

He was going to get Ken for this, somehow, one of these days. He didn't know how, he didn't know when, but it would happen. Maybe he'd run him around a soccer field a few more times, only this time, he, Daisuke, would be the one winning. 

That sound like an awesome way to spend some time anyway. If Ken ever learned not to be such a jerk, it would be even better. 

Yeah, like that would ever happen. 

* * *

"Faster!" Takeru kept his grip on Pegasumon's mane and remained crouched over his partner's withers. Part of his mind hoped that his hat wouldn't blow off into the slipstream, but only the smallest part, the part that could still concern itself with such meaningless matters. 

The rest of his mind focused on how close they were to catching up to Ken, which was clearly not close enough at all. They had to get there before Ken made it to his lair, wherever _that_ was. 

Maybe this would help them find that out. Takeru knew never to give up hope, but they'd never been able to track the Kaiser down when he returned to his base. That put several cramps in their ability to do anything permanent about him. Takeru kind of expected that even if they did find it, it would be defended by every kind of Digimon that the Kaiser had under his control and it would probably take days, if not weeks, to find a way to break through it all. 

Hikari and Nefertimon, along with Miyako and Holsmon, zipped along the skies with him. All of them still needed food and rest but Takeru couldn't give up without at least _trying_ to get Daisuke back. They'd broken the Ring, so that much at least they had on ther side. Now they just had to get him away from Ken's clutches and whatever else the Kaiser had planned. 

"AirDramon!" Hikari shouted, pointing ahead of them. The one Ken flew on could still be seen, but not quite as well, as the air fleet surged toward them. Not just AirDramon but GigaDramon and MegaDramon as well coasted along. Ken's air force clearly wasn't going to let them catch up. "We have to keep going!" Takeru knew it wasn't going to work even as the words fell from his lips. The AirDramon, GigaDramon, and MegaDramon wouldn't allow it. The fleet drove right in the center of them, sending the three Digimon swirling up, down, and to the side, their partners just managing to hang on by the skin of their teeth. 

Takeru lifted his head, trying to get a glimpse of the Kaiser, but already that particular AirDramon was out of sight. He didn't have the time to say what he wanted to about that, since before the words could form, a GigaDramon blasted toward him, teeth and fire and flame and muscles bigger than Takeru himself was, and he and Pegasumon had more than enough issues keeping themselves alive. 

The blond kept a firm grip on Pegasumon's mane, ducking here and there to keep from getting blasted by their opponent's attacks, while Pegasumon fought back, sending stream after stream of Silver Blazes and Needle Rains, none of which hit the actual Spiral controlling this Digimon. There wasn't any way they could co ordinate with Hikari and Nefertimon for a Sanctuary Bind, either, not with two AirDramon on her tail. 

Today just wasn't going well for any of them. Takeru could not help but wish there were some way to restart it and try it again, this time without the Kaiser and Rings on Daisuke and whatever else their enemy had in mind. 

* * *

Once again, Ken had Daisuke dragged through the corridors by his very convenient Gotsumon. They might have even been the same ones who did it before; they all looked alike to Ken, and it wasn't as if they had individual names anyway. Or like he would've cared if they did. They existed to carry out his orders, and that meant taking Daisuke back to the lab. 

The other boy was just starting to reach a point where he could talk again, which didn't make Ken any happier with the situation at all. He much preferred Daisuke when he was quiet and obedient. The little taste of that he'd gotten whetted his appetite for more. He didn't think he'd ever want to give it up now that he'd sampled how pleasant it could be to have a convenient hand-rest and obedient slave in the person of his supposed enemy. 

“Keep your mouth shut, unless you want me to gag you,” Ken snapped as Daisuke started to open his mouth, most likely to say something about how he was being strapped down to the table again. He was a decoration, a piece of furniture, a useful tool for Ken. None of those positions involved talking, and soon enough Ken determined to make certain he had Daisuke back in that position, never to leave it again. 

The look Daisuke sent was clearly not one of decoration, furniture, or a tool, so Ken ignored it in favor of pulling out the other's D-3 and taking a very long look at it. 

“Hey! That's mine!” Daisuke strained harder at the bonds holding him onto the table. They were of Ken's construction, however, and held him down firmly but with just enough give so that he wouldn't hurt himself. 

“I'm well aware of that.” Ken didn't lift his eyes from the blue device, wondering if he had a screwdriver anywhere around his fortress. Though on the other hand, perhaps some scans from his various monitors would prove more effective than cracking it open. He hadn't spent as much time as he would've wanted exploring the programs contained within the last time he'd had it in his hands. Now seemed a good time to fix that oversight. 

“So put it down! Give it back!” Daisuke still fought, no matter how obvious it was that he wasn't going to get away. He'd likely fought the whole time he'd had the Ring on, which probably had helped with its destruction. Ken made a note to look into that. 

For now, however, he glanced up toward Daisuke, one corner of his mouth turned downward. “If it belongs to you, then it belongs to me. Because _you_ belong to me. Or do I need to remind you of that?” 

He didn't wait for an answer, but reached behind himself to turn on a monitor, replaying selected scenes from the last few hours. Another couple of taps on the keyboard ensured that Daisuke had a perfect view of the chosen monitor, and he already knew the other couldn't leave the room to escape the evidence. He could try closing his eyes, but that wouldn't change the satisfying reality revealed in the images. 

Besides, glaring at the recordings would likely keep Daisuke quiet while Ken did his work, which was exactly what Ken wanted in the first place. There had to be some kind of an answer to what the blond member of the team had done to create that beam of light that broke the Ring, and the Digimon Kaiser wasn't going to rest until he knew what it was and how to stop it. 

**To Be Continued**


	8. Memories

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 8: Memories  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,045||story: 17,533  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** [WIP, Ken  & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

V-mon wanted to fly. He wanted to sprout wings that he didn't have and fly at a speed that not even Holsemon could match and run down the Kaiser and _take his partner back_. 

But he couldn't. Stuck here, unable to evolve, even if he'd had an evolution that could fly in the first place, all he could do was watch the Chosen and their partners who _could_ fly vanish into the distance, chasing a swiftly diminishing spot in the sky. 

“V-mon?” Iori and Armadimon came up to him. Iori had spoken, his voice low and concerned. “They'll get him back.” 

“I know.” V-mon didn't know that, but he said it anyway. He had to believe they would. He couldn't sit there and just imagine that they'd fail. Sooner or later, no matter what they had to go through, they _would_ get Daisuke back, and he couldn't see any reason why it wouldn't be sooner. 

All right, all of those Digimon he could just see attacking Pegasumon, Nefertimon, and Holsemon probably made up a good reason, but something had to go right for them. That was good enough for him. 

Iori settled down next to him, Armadimon beside his partner. “We are never going to forgive Ken for this.” 

As if V-mon would even think about forgiving him. He really wanted a chance to talk to Wormmon about this. He wouldn't call the small grub a friend, but there had been moments when he thought Wormmon thought more like they did than like Ken did. 

Once they'd spoken to each other. Just once, when Ken had captured both Daisuke and V-mon. The memory hovered in the back of V-mon's mind, as clear right now as the day it had happened. 

_“Hey, you!” V-mon had snapped the words out as soon as he'd recovered enough to know what was going on. Daisuke lay unconscious a short distance away, and some strange person in weird clothes (V-mon actually found all clothes weird, since he didn't wear them himself, but these were a strange and special kind of weird) bent over him, doing something V-mon didn't really get. Maybe if he wore clothes he would._

_But right in front of him was another Digimon, and that was something V-mon did understand. He hadn't met many since being released, and this wasn't one of them. Small and green, with large blue eyes, he stared at V-mon intently._

_“What do you want? Don't disturb K-my master while he's busy!”_

_The first thing that struck V-mon was that this Digimon didn't sound at all like what he would've expected from a minion of someone like the Digimon Kaiser. Who else could that other human be, after all?_

_“I want you both to let us go!” V-mon started to get up, only to realize then that he'd been stuck to the ground by something thick and sticky. “Hey! What is this?”_

_“My Sticky Net.” The worm moved closer. “You're not going to go anywhere until the Kaiser says you can.”_

_V-mon strained at what bound him as hard as he could. It didn't give a bit, and he didn't have much time to try before the Kaiser stood up. V-mon couldn't see what he held in his hands, only that he had something, and he doubted that it belonged to him, not after he'd been doing whatever it was he was doing to Daisuke._

_“Let us go!” He shouted even louder than before, but for all his yelling, the Kaiser paid him no mind whatsoever._

_“You know what to do, Wormmon.” With nothing more than that, the Kaiser scooped Daisuke up over his shoulder and carried him away._

_V-mon fought even harder, not even noticing when Wormmon came closer and cut his bonds until he could suddenly stand on his feet again._

_“Come with me. Or you're not going to see your partner again.”_

_Oddly enough, it didn't sound like a threat coming from him. It sounded … sad. As if Wormmon didn't really want to be doing any of this._

_V-mon followed along where Wormmon led, not trusting the Digimon, but if it meant he could see Daisuke again, then he would do it._

_“Why are you doing what the Kaiser wants? Does he have one of those Ring things on you too?” He couldn't see one but what Digimon would just follow someone like this blindly?_

_Wormmon peeked toward him. “He's my partner.” His eyes dropped for a moment. “I shouldn't have said that. He doesn't like me to call myself that.”_

_V-mon blinked several times. That could not have been right at all. The only humans who had Digimon partners were **Chosen Children** and the Digimon Kaiser couldn't be one of those! A real Chosen Child protected the Digital World! There wouldn't be any of this conquering stuff! _

_But no matter how much he tried to get Wormmon to talk to him about it, the bug Digimon said nothing else, only guided him to where the Kaiser had apparently ordered them to go. Finding out he was going to be chained to a cliff wall didn't put V-mon in the best of moods, either._

_But he never did forget those few words, or the look of sadness in Wormmon's eyes._

He sighed deeply. “I don't care if we forgive him or not.” The more he thought of it, he really didn't. “I just want Daisuke back.” They could decide then if they could or should forgive Ken. But he didn't really _want_ to. 

Iori's eyes darkened, his fingers tightening on a stick he'd picked up from somewhere. “He doesn't deserve it. Not at all. People like him don't want to be any better.” 

V-mon wasn't in the mood to argue about it. He kept his attention on the skies above, where he could just see a swirl that could either be a bank of clouds or the forces of the Kaiser fighting against the Chosen Children. He still wished for wings and the power to fly, but above all else, he wished for Daisuke to be safe. 

* * *

Nefertimon ducked and rolled, an AirDramon's Spinning Needle attack flashing through the area she'd been only moments earlier. Hikari's grip on her mane didn't ease up, but she could hear her partner's breath coming faster and faster. 

“Are you all right?” Nefertimon asked, getting herself steadier in the air and keeping an eye out for that AirDramon or any of its companions. They'd managed to release a few of their opponents, but there were still a good half-dozen AirDramon, GigaDramon, and MegaDramon rising against them. 

“I'm fine!” Hikari leaned forward to call into her partner's ear. The grip of her legs tightened, and Nefertimon rose up before Hikari could speak, warning of the GigaDramon as it flashed closer to them. 

_Destroying the Rings and Spirals sounds so easy until you actually try to do it!_ Nefertimon barely had time to shape the thought, concentrating instead on blasting a few Nile Jewelry attacks at the GigaDramon. One of them managed to hit the Spiral that bound the creature, though it didn't entirely shatter it. Spirals tended to take at least two good attacks from her or Pegasumon to completely shatter. Sometimes Nefertimon wanted to find out whoever had designed all of this and give them a very good talking to. 

That would have to wait until they weren't in the middle of combat, though. Nefertimon flapped her wings, going higher and higher, the GigaDramon circling around as well. She was a little more manuverable in the air, but this one was a viscious Digimon, even without the Digimon Kaiser's will overriding its own. She couldn't remember ever having met a GigaDramon that wasn't ready to defend itself to the end anyway. Not that she went out of her way to meet GigaDramon. 

There! “Rosetta Stone!” Her attack flashed forward, a huge slab of stone imbued with the power of Light itself, crashing into the Evil Spiral. Cracks grew wider, and Nefertimon prepared herself to make one more attack. Before she could, however, the Spiral broke off entirely, and the GigaDramon hovered in place in confusion. 

Nefertimon tensed, still ready to back off and defend if she needed to, but the GigaDramon shook its head and sloped off out of sight, clearly not wanting anything more to do with this battle. 

“How much more do we have?” Nefertimon tilted her head to try to get a look at Hikari. While she liked being able to carry her partner like this, she did miss being able to become Angewomon and watch her without getting a crick in her neck. 

“We're almost done!” Hikari gestured and Nefertimon turned to see the AirDramon they'd avoided before getting freed by one of Holsmon's attacks. A little farther along, Pegasmon broke the Spiral binding one of the Megadramon. 

But what she noticed most of all was that there wasn't any sign of the AirDramon carrying the Digimon Kaiser and Daisuke. 

She didn't say anything, though. From the way everyone else kept throwing looks in the direction they'd last seen their enemy and his prisoner, they already knew. 

* * *

One by one, Miyako, Takeru, Hikari, and their partners came back to where Iori, Armadimon, and V-mon waited for them. Despite all of their hopes, no one was that surprised when Daisuke wasn't with them. 

“Ken's not going to give him up without more of a fight. He'd probably going to try to put another Ring on him. Or even a Spiral.” 

Takeru's words sent chills down everyone's spines. They'd gone through this with Agumon once already, and it wasn't getting any better when it came to Daisuke. If anything, it would probably be worse. The sun nearly reached the horizon by the time they arrived at one of the portals back to their world, and they all knew this meant one thing: they had to explain where Daisuke was to his family. Somehow. 

“I'll tell them he's at my place,” Takeru said after a few silent moments where everyone stared more at the small television than they did at each other. “But tomorrow, we get him back.” 

Tomorrow they would also have to somehow explain his absence at school and see if whatever they came up with could extend to his family as well. None of them had any ideas as of yet. 

“I'm going to stay here tonight,” V-mon said as Hikari began to take out her D-3. “Maybe I'll be able to find something.” 

“Are you sure?” Iori wanted to know, fidgeting with his own D-3. “It could be dangerous. If any of the Kaiser's slaves attack you...” 

V-mon just shook his head. “I'll be all right. You guys go on home.” 

There wasn't a single one of them, human or Digimon, who wanted to leave. Ken might've escaped clean and would certainly turn up again with Daisuke, whatever his plans were, but no one wanted to let him have a whole night to himself to plot. 

Except they also needed to go home and check in with family and eat and rest themselves. They couldn't get anything done if they were to hungry to think or fight. 

“We'll meet you here tomorrow, then,” Takeru said. V-mon nodded and stood there watching as the Chosen and partners all crossed back over to Earth. 

As soon as they were gone, he turned and started away. He didn't know where the Kaiser's lair was located, and he needed something to eat as much as the others did. Once Daisuke was found and free, he would need to be able to evolve, and that was a standard truth among all Digimon: no food, no fighting. 

Maybe he could even find some of the older Digimon partners. He really wanted to talk to Agumon and Gabumon, now that the thought occurred to him. Agumon was the only one they all knew personally who'd ever had an Evil Ring or Spiral on him. Those Digimon they freed from the Kaiser never wanted to talk about it, and tended to stay away from the whole situation. But maybe Agumon could give some kind of advice. 

Somewhere in the deepest depths of his mind, he could not help but hope that Wormmon would help Daisuke. Somehow. 


	9. Evening

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 9: Evening  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,080||story: 19,613  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** [WIP, Ken  & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

Daisuke did his best to ignore the images on the screen. In the last few hours, they'd played enough that he could've recited all the dialogue there, such as it was, perfectly anyway, and described every movement made there. That would likely have pleased Ken to no end. Which was why he ignored it and stared up at the ceiling instead, wondering if he could somehow shake off his bonds, jump up there, and find a way out. 

He knew that he couldn't. He'd struggled against the restraints until he could feel them cutting into his wrists, and there hadn't been enough give to _do_ anything with. So he lay back down and tried to think of other things. How was he going to explain how long he'd been gone to his parents? Were the others going to try to come up with something? He hoped they did; he wasn't good at spur of the moment explanations. Well, not ones that actually made sense. His tended to be something that could best be described as 'well, there I was, when...oh, look, a shiny distraction!' and then running for the hills in the hopes that whoever he was talking to would forget about what they'd asked him in the first place. 

He was going to be behind on his homework, too. Not that he'd really planned on doing any of it tonight, but he would've liked to avoid doing it because he didn't want to do it, not because he wasn't there to decide not to do it in the first place. 

Jun kept giving him superior looks about that kind of thing, reminding him in her 'subtle' way that he would have to get into a good high school and college eventually, and he should probably start working on that eventually. Just like she was. 

He kind of missed her already. He didn't think he'd tell her that, but he did anyway. She'd probably see the bruises on his wrists when he got back and complain about how he always got himself into trouble and then bandage them up without asking what happened. 

_I think she knows about V-mon. The way she looks at me sometimes..._ It made him a little nervous to think that she might know and that she hadn't told him. Keeping secrets wasn't his sister's forte. 

Somewhere in the middle of his mental wanderings, he heard a vague growl, and looked around, wondering if one of Ken's enslaved Digimon had somehow turned up. He didn't think any of them would sound like that. Most of them were absolutely quiet except during a fight. And yet... 

"Master." Wormmon crouched a short distance away from where Ken still remained engrossed in the inner workings of Daisuke's D-3. "Should I get you something to eat? You sound a little hungry." 

Wait, that was _Ken_? Daisuke held back a snigger. Or tried to, anyway. The idea of Ken's stomach growling just struck him as too funny for words. Probably because his own decided at that moment to sound off as well. 

Ken didn't look up at first, but when Wormmon inched forward enough to nudge him, he shot a glare at the small Digimon that by all rights should've reformatted him. 

“What do you want?” Clearly the Kaiser didn't appreciate being interrupted. Daisuke decided to do it himself as soon as he had a chance. There were so many reasons to do so, including the fact that Ken didn't need to find out anything about their D-3s that he didn't already know, and he should probably forget that as soon as he conveniently could. 

“It's dinner time. You and Daisuke both need to eat.” Wormmon's front pods fidgeted a little. “I can have some food brought really soon.” 

Daisuke wondered why he hadn't done so already; he seemed like that kind of partner. From the look Ken gave Wormmon, Daisuke wondered if it was because he knew how long it would take Ken to even agree to eat. The food would be ruined in no time. 

_Man, he's got the best partner ever, and he just ignores him._ If Daisuke had the chance, he knew for a fact he'd swat Ken over the head for this. It was the least of what he deserved. 

Ken looked back at Daisuke's D-3 and shrugged. “Bring it if you like. He'll probably start being annoying if he doesn't get something in him. And he'll need to be well fed for tomorrow.” 

Oh, that did not sound even remotely good. Daisuke banged his head on the table he rested on and threw out a deep sigh. “Have you finished playing with things that aren't yours yet, _Ken_?” 

“I believe I told you once already that what's yours is mine. Therefore, I can 'play' with this as long as I want.” Ken didn't look up from what he was doing. Daisuke still wasn't sure _what_ he was doing, only that it involved his D-3 and he wanted Koushirou or Miyako to give it a good once over once he got out of there. And maybe figure out some kind of a way to disinfect it. 

“Yeah, well, I don't happen to believe you. I'm not yours and nothing of mine is yours.” 

“I think we've had this conversation once before. I see no reason to have it again. You will eat and then you will sleep. Tomorrow I have plans for what we'll be doing and I don't want you falling asleep or demanding food when we're in the middle of them.” 

Daisuke lifted his head as much as he could and glared over at his captor. “What makes you think that I'm going to do anything that you want me to?” 

“Because you won't have a choice. You do remember what happened with Agumon, don't you?” Ken glanced toward Daisuke, a small smirk flittering over his lips. “When I couldn't use one of my Rings, I found something better. Something that worked.” His eyes narrowed for a moment, just visible behind his glasses. “Until you broke it, but that won't happen this time.” 

Daisuke rolled his eyes. “Sure. Just like no one was going to break that Ring of yours, right?” He still didn't know how Takeru had pulled that one off, but he hoped the blond could repeat the experience if Ken tried something like an Evil Ring. Or worse. Could there be worse? 

Yeah, this was Ken. It could be _lots_ worse. He'd already wrecked Daisuke's day once already, twice if you counted being captured and being Ringed as separate events. Three times if you threw in not realizing that he should just let Daisuke go once the first plan failed. 

For someone everyone claimed was a genius, Ken didn't seem to have a grasp on when to give up. 

Whether Daisuke liked that or not, and he really didn't, he kind of had to admire it in a way. He was much the same himself. Why should someone give up just because something didn't work? 

_Hold it,_ he warned himself, turning his head away from Ken and fighting to keep himself in check. _You don't want to get to thinking he's right. That's dumb._ He thought there were other words, but he didn't know them, and he didn't want to think about them enough to get all the details straight. 

What he wanted was just to go home and there wasn't much of a chance of that tonight. So he'd take a rest and eat what he could and tomorrow, tomorrow when they were out again, then he would find a way to get out of there, and he'd never, ever come back to Ken's fortress, not without enough firepower on him to blow a hole in it so he could get out that way if he needed to. 

Ken made no answer to what he'd said, presumably pulled back into his fascinating exploration of the D-3. Daisuke was fine with that. Some conversations he just didn't want to have, and arguing over who would win with the Kaiser was one of those. 

“Master.” Wormmon entered, pulling the portable tray behind him. Daisuke lifted his head up so he could catch a whiff of what was on there. He didn't recognize all of the smells, but they were good, whatever they were. 

Ken must not have been as deep into his researches as he'd been before, since he looked up right away. He pulled the tray over to him, examining the two plates on it before he reached behind himself to touch something on the keyboard. 

The bonds that held Daisuke down slipped away into the table, and Ken gestured toward one of the plates. “Eat. Don't even attempt to escape.” 

“Am I allowed to think about escaping?” Daisuke asked, even as he reached for the plate. He wanted to be certain he didn't disobey, after all. Part of him thought that in pure sarcasm. 

Part of him genuinely wanted to know, because Ken could just as easily decide not to give him food, or to have someone feed him instead of Daisuke eating on his own. 

“You can think about it, but that's it,” Ken said, starting to eat his own meal. For a wonder, he didn't keep scanning and researching on the D-3 or whatever else he had there at the same time. Daisuke took enough of a look to see a Spiral's image there, and decided he'd seen more than enough. 

Besides, eating was a lot more interesting, especially since it tasted a lot better than he would've imagined food made here would have. Even after having had one meal here earlier, it still surprised him that it could be this good. Those Veggiemon really knew what they were doing. Maybe that was why some of them ran restaurants, or so he'd heard. 

At least this time Wormmon didn't have to feed him. He wondered what had led Ken to change his mind about that, and decided that was yet again something he didn't want to ask, for fear of losing the privilege of feeding himself. 

_It's not a privilege. It's a right. One he shouldn't try to take away._

For all the annoyance he had with the situation, he had to admit that Ken _had_ taken it away from him, and fairly easily at that. Sure, he'd fought, but Ken hadn't even broken a proper sweat capturing him and keeping him. It made him wonder what the other could really do to defeat them if he put his mind to it, and why Ken hadn't done so at all. 

_Better not think about that. I'm going to have nightmares if I do._ He couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't have them anyway, but there wasn't any need to encourage them. 

He had to admit to himself that he'd never once thought that he would sit imprisoned in the Kaiser's fortress, having already felt the unbelievable power of an Evil Ring on himself, nearly bringing his friends to destruction, and yet calmly, more or less, having a dinner that outstripped everything that he'd eaten in his life. 

The idea of having any kind of casual conversation with Ken somewhat wandered through his mind, but as much as it interested him, Daisuke wasn't certain if he wanted to try it. Ken varied in his reactions to anything Daisuke did, ranging from actually answering his questions to telling him to be quiet and not interfere with whatever it was the Kaiser had in mind. Daisuke wasn't really in the mood to deal with that. 

Wormmon had a tray of his own, Daisuke noticed, and he quietly set about eating from it much as the humans did, though without chopsticks or the use of hands. Daisuke hoped that V-mon would be all right, and that someone would take care of him while he was away. 

_Tonight was going to be bath night, too._ He didn't think he'd get one of those here, and that pleased him far more than he wanted to think. He liked washing up, but bathing around _Ken_? Not going to happen. Not at all. 

He was missing so much already, just from a few hours with Ken. How much more was he going to miss? How much would he just not be able to do? How much else was Ken going to take from him? 

If he'd asked Ken, the answer would've been 'everything that I possibly can'. 

**To Be Continued**


	10. Overnight

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 10: Overnight  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,312||story: 21,925  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** [WIP, Ken  & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

Daisuke stared up into the dark shadows and tried to see through them. He didn't have much luck. When Ken turned the lights off, he didn't leave _anything_ that could be seen by. 

_Well, why would he?_ The re-chained Chosen grumped to himself. _He's not in here, and he's the only one who matters. To him._

He wanted out of here more than words could say. He wanted to be curled up in his own bed, with Chibimon next to him, hearing Jun chattering to her best friend through the walls, while his parents watched television and talked to each other, probably about how Jun needed to talk less on the phone. 

He closed his eyes. It remained dark. He opened them. The shadows didn't change. He sighed. Sleeping would probably be the best idea; there wasn't much else that he could do anyway, other than sit here and stare at nothing, but he _couldn't_ sleep. He tried. He'd already laid there for half an hour, or so he thought, with his eyes closed, and nothing at all happened. 

Ken hadn't even bothered to leave the screens on showing the disastrous encounter with the Chosen. That would've at least been something to watch, even if he didn't want to. 

He could hear a few faint noises outside, but since he was once more chained to the table, he couldn't investigate them. They were likely guards on him. Why Ken put guards on a _chained prisoner_ was beyond Daisuke, but it was something he would probably do. Ken clearly didn't make a habit out of making sense anyway. 

Daisuke sighed again, lifting his head and slamming it back down. He couldn't even get a decent headache out of that. He squinted down at his arm, to where a second Ring rested. Ken had left it there before he'd gone off to bed, ordering him not to hurt himself to the point of actual damage. So he could bang his head once or twice, but that was about it. And he couldn't struggle to the point he bled. 

Ken took _all_ the fun out of being a prisoner. Really. 

At least Ken hadn't told him to go to sleep. If he had, Daisuke knew he wouldn't be laying here being annoyed because he wasn't asleep. 

He wondered if that was why he couldn't sleep, because Ken hadn't ordered him to. He eyed the Ring suspiciously, but it gave away nothing. At least this time he could move around a little. He wasn't sure of how different it was from the last time, since he wasn't putting that much effort into trying to fight it. There wasn't any real use, not without any of the others around. 

Too soon, he'd be seeing them again, and with a Spiral clamped around him this time. That sent a shuddering kind of not-thrill all through him. He wanted to see them. He did not want to see them with a Spiral on, having to do whatever it was Ken told him to do. 

What _would_ Ken tell him to do? He sighed again. At least this time the others wouldn't take him for granted when he showed up. They'd be careful. They'd be on the watch. 

They'd be ready to...to hurt him to save him. 

As much as he'd done what he had to in order to save MetalGreymon, the thought of all of that firepower being turned on him if it was necessary sent an entirely different kind of shudder through him. 

He thought maybe Ken was counting on that. It didn't make falling asleep any easier. 

* * *

“Absolutely not.” Yamato shook his head. “I did that once already. I'm not getting into it again.” 

“But, Yamato - ” Takeru wished he were young enough to give his brother a simple look and get what he wanted out of him. That time had passed, unfortunately. “This is really important.” 

Yamato sighed and shook his head again. “Takeru, the last time something like this happened, Jun wanted me to go out with her.” 

Takeru knew that; Daisuke had mentioned it before. He wasn't sure if Jun had actually succeeded in getting his brother on the date or not, but he knew that she wanted it. “So maybe she wouldn't want that this time? But we're going to need some kind of help to clear Daisuke for tomorrow.” 

The blond drummed his fingers on the back of the couch, eyes closed as he thought over the problem. “I know.” Knowing didn't mean he liked it. Takeru knew how that worked out very well. 

He thought about sneaking back into the Digital World and not coming back until he found Daisuke. He knew darned well that Daisuke would gladly do the same thing for any of them if they'd been caught like this. Only that was the problem: he wasn't Daisuke. He wasn't going to plunge himself in like that without covering all the bases back home first. 

Which meant right now, he needed to figure out a way so the school wouldn't try to call the Motomiya household and thus Jun or their parents would figure out that something strange was going on. 

He'd thought about showing them the Digimon and explaining what was going on with the absolute truth, but that wasn't such a good idea either. While a few non-Chosen humans did know a little something, all of the Chosen agreed that it wasn't a good idea for anyone who didn't already know to get told. Not yet, anyway. Maybe someday in the future they could manage it, but now wasn't that time. 

Even if the thought appealed more and more with every passing moment. Especially since they had to do _something_. 

“Actually, I think I might have an idea,” Yamato said suddenly, straightening up. “I'll need to talk to Koushirou about it, but I think he might have something to adjust the sound of my voice over the phone. I can pretend to be Daisuke's father and tell the school he's sick or we're going on a family trip for the day or something.” 

“Sick,” Takeru said quickly. “We kind of don't want anyone trying to compare notes and find out that Jun wasn't on a 'family trip'.” 

“Right.” Yamato nodded, rising up to his feet. “I'll call Koushirou and see what I can do about that.” He hesitated for a moment, looking down at his younger brother. “Are you going to be all right?” 

Takeru twiddled his fingers together, not meeting Yamato's eyes. “Sure. I'll be fine.” He wondered how much of a lie that was. Probably more than he wanted it to be. 

The look Yamato gave him spoke rather eloquently of how much his older brother didn't believe him. Takeru didn't have to look at Yamato to know how he was being looked at himself. He could feel it in his bones. But he still continued to find many more sights so much more interesting around the Ishida apartment. Neither his brother nor his father were that interested in cleaning beyond the basics, not with Dad's interests being in his work and Yamato's either in schoolwork or his band. Normally Takeru found that more than a little annoying, but right now, since it gave him a pile of laundry to stare at, he didn't care that much. 

“I should probably go home. Mom's going to wonder where I'm at.” The idea of the walk home, with only Patamon to talk to, and knowing that one of his friends was trapped somewhere else, was not a pleasant one. 

Yamato, as always, seemed to know something of what was going on through Takeru's mind. “You could stay here if you want. Dad's not coming home until late.” 

Never let it be said that Takeru wasn't tempted. One quick call to his mother would've exempted him from the need to walk home, and he could talk to someone who knew much more about what the Digital World and the Digimon Emperor were like than Mom did. 

But even as he opened his mouth to agree, he knew better. “I can't. Daisuke's parents think that he's at our place, and if they try to call there, and Mom picks it up without knowing...” 

Both of them sighed in perfect unison at that. Takaishi Natsuko would certainly help them if they needed some kind of back-up story, but Takeru wanted a chance to explain it to her in person. You never could be too certain who else might hear something over the phone anyway. 

“All right, then. I'll get in touch with Koushirou and let you know how that comes out tomorrow, then.” Yamato ruffled Takeru's hair, a breath of a smile on his lips. “Let us know how everything comes out, all right?” 

“You got it,” Takeru said, finding a smile and planting it firmly on his lips. He glanced down at the small lump in his pocket, then over to the counter where Yamato's own Digivice rested. “Do you think that will help again?” 

“It has to. Remember what happened with Leomon?” 

Takeru nodded; that was what had sparked his original use of the D-3 anyway. He held back another sigh. Hours and hours until they could get back to the Digital World and see what Ken had in mind for Daisuke, and for the rest of them. And every one of them full of people who might want to know more than they really needed to right now. 

With Patamon snugly on his head and a reminder in his ears not to worry himself to death, Takeru set off for home. He knew they would have to rescue Daisuke tomorrow. If they didn't, he didn't want to think about all the lies they would have to spin, or how all of those could blow up in their faces. 

* * *

The Digimon Kaiser's mobile fortress seldom remained in one place, except under two circumstances: if Ken himself ordered that it be so, or when he slept. He didn't like the idea of not knowing where he was during those limited times when he allowed himself to rest, so whenever he finally slipped into bed, he found a suitable defensive place and had the fortress remain there until he woke in the morning. 

Wormmon always woke up before Ken did, having trained himself to do so over the course of the last couple of years. Now that Ken lived in the Digital World, he used the time to make certain his master had a good breakfast awaiting him, and reports on any powerful Digimon in the area who might be worth enslaving were always ready. 

Wormmon knew he would complete his morning tasks as he always did. But tonight he had a special job awaiting himself, one that the Kaiser knew nothing about. 

He slipped out of the fortress with ease; he'd gone in and out of it ever since Ken built it, after all. He knew more ways to get through it than even Ken himself did. It wasn't _easy_ , but Ken never questioned any bruises that turned up. In all likelihood, he thought he'd inflicted them himself. Wormmon did not choose to enlighten him. 

“I wasn't sure if you were going to be here,” Wormmon murmured as he wriggled up behind the Digimon he'd been looking for. 

V-mon glanced over at him, and Wormmon wasn't surpriesd to see worry written all over his features. He would have worried to, if somehow their positions had been reversed. “I couldn't go back, not without Daisuke.” 

Wormmon wasn't sure what life in the human world was like, but it wasn't something he wanted to face without Ken, and he thought V-mon felt the same way. “He's asleep right now. Or he was when I looked in on him, anyway.” 

V-mon started to open his mouth, and Wormmon already knew what he was going to ask. He shook his head before the blue Digimon could say anything. “I can't get you in there. Even if I could, you can't evolve without him, and there are too many guards and locks in the way for you to get to him.” 

V-mon drooped almost at once. At least he didn't question Wormmon's word on it. Wormmon wasn't lying; the guards would recognize him, but not V-mon, and the locks were keyed to open at Ken's spoken command. Even he couldn't get through some of them without the Kaiser there. 

“What's the Kaiser going to do with him? Do you know?” V-mon asked instead. Wormmon lowered his head. 

“He hasn't really said much. All I know is that he does plan to use a Spiral on him. He thinks that's going to make it so that your friends can't get rid of it.” Wormmon wriggled nervously. “He might even be right.” 

“No!” V-mon was on his feet in a heartbeat, staring at Wormmon. “We're going to get Daisuke back!” 

Wormmon couldn't bring himself to argue about it. He didn't want to get V-mon mad, but he knew how dedicated Ken was to keeping Daisuke as well. “I hope you can.” Maybe, just maybe, if they did, it would help get the old Ken back somehow. He wanted that more than he wanted anything in all the world. 

V-mon settled back down, though Wormmon saw from the tightness in his shoulders that he wasn't all that calm. He inched closer, doing what he could to comfort him. 

He would've taken V-mon to the fortress if it would have done any good. He would've brought Daisuke out with him if he could. But ever since Agumon's escape, the security procedures had been increased, limiting what he could do. 

Neither of them said anything, but remained close by one another, until light began to flicker across the eastern horizon, and the second day of Daisuke's captivity began. 

**To Be Continued**


	11. Day

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 11: Day  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,210||story: 24,135  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** [WIP, Ken  & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

There was something different about gathering in the computer room without Daisuke. This wasn't the first time they'd made it there before he did, but they all knew this time that he wasn't going to turn up late, due to having clean up or having to deal with the outcome of whatever he'd done that wasn't actually classwork or soccer practice or any of the other thousand reasons he'd ended up late to their meetings in the past. 

This was knowing that he wasn't there because their enemy had gone out of his way to trap him and enslave him and so far, all of their attempts to get him back had fallen flat. This was Takeru seeing the Kaiser drag Daisuke off and not being able to get to him in time, no matter how hard he tried. This was laying in bed and staring at the ceiling and wondering what might be going on in the Kaiser's fortress that they couldn't stop. 

This was Takeru being determined that come hell or high water, he wasn't coming back to Earth without Daisuke. He'd already told his mother that, and while she wasn't very fond of the situation, she hadn't said anything to the contrary. 

This was also Taichi and Yamato both showing up at the computer room after class, looking every bit as serious as they had when the Kaiser had held Agumon captive. 

“You're coming with us?” Takeru couldn't quite believe his ears. He wasn't _surprised_ ; he just hadn't thought they actually would. 

“You're going to need all the help that you can get,” Taichi said, his brown eyes dark with worry. “Besides, there are other reasons.” 

He cast a quick glance at Yamato, who nodded quickly. Few of the Chosen _said_ anything about it, but the older ones tended to regard their younger counterparts with a little bit of possessive pride. These were _their_ heirs, _their_ successors. 

Takeru wondered now and then what that might've felt like. If there had ever been anyone who shared the trait of Hope with him... 

Well, that was a mental argument for another day. Today he turned to the computer, the gate open and ready for them. 

They would have to come back with Daisuke. Because sooner or later, Ken would start to do more with him than taunt them and try to lead them against overwhelming odds. And Takeru didn't want to see that happen at all. 

* * *

Daisuke had wondered ever since finding out that Ken had moved permanently to the Digital World what he did with his days. No one could spend all of their time trying to take over a world and putting Rings and Spirals on Digimon, right? 

Wrong. That was exactly what Ken did with his time. Daisuke had still been soundly asleep when Ken entered the room, roughly commanded him to wake up, and what was probably the longest and most boring day of Daisuke's entire life up to that point began. If any days were to be longer and more boring, Daisuke didn't want to know about them. 

Maybe if he'd actually _done something_ , he might've found it more interesting. But Ken's ideas on what to do with his prisoner hadn't changed from the day before. 

So, Daisuke found himself on his knees for most of the day. Ken rested one hand on him whenever he wasn't using both of them to type on his keyboard. Daisuke managed to tilt his head enough to watch the screens, which held images of various Digimon, some of them wearing Rings and Spirals, some of them not. 

What bothered him more than anything was the fact some of the screens showed those areas where the older Chosen's partner Digimon guarded territory. Fighting Agumon once had been bad enough. The idea of fighting _all_ of their friends' partners was all but guaranteed to give Daisuke nightmares. He didn't think he ever had to be asleep for those. 

“Are you really just going to sit around all day?” Daisuke asked at one point. He wasn't certain what time it was; he didn't have a watch on, and Ken didn't seem to care about the time. They'd been in what he'd personally dubbed the control room for what felt like forever. His stomach told him it had been long enough for dinner to wear off, but there hadn't been any signs of breakfast today. 

“I'm working,” Ken replied, not even looking at him. Or so Daisuke guessed, since the Kaiser kept on typing, and the screens shifted images, possibly in response to whatever demands he made of them. “And you certainly have nothing better to do, do you?” 

Oh, the answers Daisuke could come up with for that. He satisfied himself for now with a shrug and saying, “I could be playing soccer.” It would be more interesting than remaining here. Taking math class would be more interesting than being on his knees before Ken, really. But he wasn't going to go that far out loud. 

“I'd beat you.” Ken's lips flickered into a dark smile. “Again.” 

Daisuke decided the day would come when he played soccer against Ken once more, and this time, he'd beat him. It might take everything he had, but he'd do it. He'd figure out how to get him to play another time. 

“So?” For now he just shrugged. “It would still be better than being here.” 

“We'll be going out later,” Ken told him, resting his left hand on Daisuke's head. Daisuke breathed a trifle harder, his instincts wanting him to jerk away, to get up and run, or fight. The Ring on his arm gave his body other instructions, forcing him to remain where he was. 

The way this thing worked kind of interested him. He had a feeling that Koushirou and Miyako would want to know what he was going through, if only to try to help the Digimon held by it. Whenever Ken gave him an order, his body obeyed it right away. So far today, Ken's orders included 'wake up', 'get up', 'follow me', and 'kneel here and don't try to get away'. 

They hadn't been 'shut up' or 'be quiet', which meant he got to keep talking, and that was all that made the situation even close to bearable. Knowing Ken, he'd probably get told one of those if he bothered the Kaiser too much, so he tried not to talk himself directly into silence. It wasn't a natural situation for him, but he did his best. None of this was natural anyway, so that was just another aspect of it. 

Part of him thought Ken would like the idea of him not talking just to avoid annoying him. He would probably say something to the effect of 'you're learning' in that insufferably smug tone of his. 

Yeah, Daisuke was learning all right. Learning that spending time around Ken made him furious and he wanted to not do it as soon as possible. 

He'd spied Wormmon a few times during the passing hours, mostly lurking near the door and waiting for some kind of order from the Kaiser. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to come, since Ken paid the tiny green caterpillar no attention at all. 

_Has he been looking at me?_ Daisuke tried to get a look at the door, though it wasn't in a good position for him to do so when Ken had his hand on his head. He thought Wormmon had been, but he couldn't guess as to why. And there wasn't any way that he could ask, not with the Kaiser there. 

Ken's hand carded absently through Daisuke's hair, and Daisuke pressed his lips together, hating the feel of it. He wanted all of this over with 

“You said we were going out later?” Oh, he _hated_ how that sounded. He needed to get away from here, just so he could start to think clearly again. 

“I told you that yesterday, actually. As soon as your friends turn up, we're going to see them. It's long past time I got rid of all of them.” 

Daisuke's shoulders tensed up at that. “I hope you don't expect me to help you.” 

Ken's hand clenched tighter in his hair and Daisuke hissed between his teeth. He couldn't move very far, his body freezing automatically the moment the Ring interpreted it as 'away', but he could do that at least. 

“I expect that you will do exactly as you are told, whether you _want_ to or not.” The grip strengthened and Daisuke hunched his shoulders, wishing that just for one moment he could strike back. “I think you need to remember who is in charge here, Motomiya. Until I tell you otherwise, and _I won't_ , you are to refer to me as _Kaiser-sama_.” 

Daisuke wasn't certain if the cold hand he was almost certain brushed against his throat was his imagination or the effect of the Ring or some strange combination of both. 

“Now, do you understand me, Motomiya?” Ken jerked Daisuke's head around and mad violet eyes stared down at him. Daisuke ached to say almost anything else, but two other words forced their way out of his mouth against his will. 

“Yes, Kaiser-sama.” 

He did his best not to say anything else for the rest of the day. Not that it did him much good. Ken found a sudden burning desire to talk to Daisuke about everything he was doing, and insisted on his prisoner answering him. 

If Daisuke hadn't already known it, he would've decided then that Ken was probably the most evil person he'd ever met. 

* * *

Ken examined the piece of work in his hands, checking for any sign of weakness. The Spiral gleamed in deep shades of black, with small red threads of circuitry woven through it. He couldn't make them indestructible, no matter how much he wanted to. He'd yet to find a material that would both be able to control Digimon and couldn't be destroyed by a Digimon's attack. He hadn't stopped looking, though. 

But perhaps he wouldn't need it. If all happened as he wished it to, then he wouldn't have anyone fighting against him for that much longer. 

He turned to where Motomiya knelt, the boy stonily silent as he'd been for the last hour or so, ever since Ken focused his full attention on getting the precious Spiral into final, perfect condition. Being forced to acknowledge the Kaiser's superiority did not sit well with him. Ken found it quite pleasurable. 

“Remain still,” Ken ordered, and all Motomiya could do now as breathe in and out. He brought the Spiral close enough to Motomiya's arm, then slipped the Ring off. There could only be a few seconds, at best, between the use of the devices. Any longer, and Motomiya would click to the fact he could think and move for himself again, and he could cause problems like that. 

Ken would have none of that. He'd gone to so much trouble to craft this Spiral of superior strength, all but impossible to be broken by any normal means. He wasn't going to have Motomiya racing around the fortress on his own. 

There! The Spiral rested firmly on Daisuke's arm, in full view of anyone. There wasn't any reason to let this remain a secret. The Chosen all knew that Daisuke belonged to Ken now anyway. Today would be the beginning of their acceptance of that. 

Ken stared down into those wide brown eyes. “Remain silent unless I give you permission to speak, ask you a question, or give you an order. You will still refer to me as 'Kaiser-sama'. You will perform no actions that I do not order of you. You are my _property_. Understood?” 

Fire still gleamed in Motomiya's eyes. Ken looked forward to the day when it went out completely. That day wouldn't be soon. But he enjoyed a fine battle of wits anyway. 

“Yes, Kaiser-sama.” Oh, he could get _so_ used to that. 

“Good. Stand up. Follow me.” Ken stalked out of his central room, already having ordered Wormmon to have an AirDramon ready and his chosen slaves gathered up to do battle. He'd chosen the area for their fight well. If the Chosen made it out of this in one piece, they'd never be able to fight him again. They would finally see that he was unstoppable and would be, _could be_ the only victor in this game, no matter how hard they fought. 

A fleet of flying Digimon soared behind them as Ken headed for the area he'd chosen. The ground forces had been sent out earlier and would wait for them there. Ken smiled as the chosen battleground came into view. 

It was a village of small Digimon, ones that he hadn't yet Ringed. This was part of his purpose in coming here. He turned to his slave and held out a half dozen of the control devices. 

“When we land, I want you to put these on as many of the local Digimon as you can.” 

“Yes, Kaiser-sama.” Daisuke's voice held little emotion as he accepted the Rings, but if Ken had paid enough attention, he might well have heard the anger that tried so hard to seep through. 

**To Be Continued**


	12. Village

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 12: Village  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,042||story: 26,177  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** [WIP, Ken  & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

Sleeping out in the Digital World wasn't as easy as it once had been. Ever since the Digimon Kaiser's arrival and conquest, those inhabitants who weren't strong enough to put up some kind of a fight developed the habit of sleeping in groups, with at least four of their number on guard at all times, rotating throughout the night. They very seldom welcomed strangers, no matter how harmless they looked. 

Thus, once Wormmon had to return to the fortress, V-mon found himself in need of a place to rest while he could. He would know when Daisuke came out again; the bond that drew partners together would call him, no matter where Daisuke was. Something about the Kaiser's fortress or maybe an Evil Ring blocked it for now, but V-mon trusted that it would come again. 

He'd searched around almost until the sky began to lighten up without finding a place he could trust. There were places that were _safe_ , or as safe as they could be anyway, but those were all taken up by Digimon of various kinds. 

Finally he found a small cave, which wasn't very far from a village of young Digimon. Unlike most Digimon villages, where all the inhabitants were the same kind, this one housed many different ones, ranging from Koromon to Pagumon. V-mon couldn't tell how they got along, but at the moment, he just wanted to get some sleep anyway. 

To call this a cave was probably being more generous than the little depression in the hill deserved. His head scraped the top of it when he stood up as tall as he could and there was just barely enough room to keep any rain off of him, if it had rained at all. He counted himself lucky enough that it didn't, curled into a tight little ball, missing the warmth of Daisuke's room and the late-night snacks that Daisuke kept there for the two of them to share, and tried to sleep. 

He had no idea of how long he'd stayed like that before he heard desperate high-pitched cries and his eyes snapped open. 

_The village?_ It rested on the other side of the hill, encircled by thick bushes and tall trees, and he hurried that way as quickly as he could, wondering what the problem was. He didn't like the sound of the noise; too much panic, not enough friendly sparring. 

He didn't even have to get through the encircling trees before he realized what was going on. His heart sank the moment he saw the fleet of AirDramon, Unimon, and many other flying Digimon beginning to land, taking up positions of guard as they did. 

Each and every one of them bore an Evil Ring or an Evil Spiral. 

V-mon clenched his fists and looked around. He had to be here somewhere. And until the Chosen showed up, _he_ was the one who had to do something about this. Even though he couldn't evolve. Even though Daisuke would be in the thick of this, somewhere. 

“Very good toss, slave.” The Kaiser's voice was unmistakeable and sent the familiar sensation of anger surging all through V-mon. And what had he said? He had to be talking to Daisuke. He never addressed any of his Digimon slaves like that. 

V-mon's steps took him closer to the heart of the village, which was really nothing more than a small collection of woven huts like virtually every other Digimon village. There wasn't much space for him to hide, but he ducked down anyway, wanting to get a clear view before he barged in there. If he had the chance, he would find the Ring that had to be on Daisuke and smash it. Sure, his partner might end up bruised, but bruised and free would be better than not-bruised and enslaved. 

He came up on them from behind. The Kaiser stood a little to the side of Daisuke, with Wormmon off to his side. Wormmon's antenna twitched and V-mon suspected the worm knew he was there. But he wouldn't say anything. V-mon made a promise that if this worked, he would find a way to get a nice treat to Wormmon after all of this. 

Now he focused on Daisuke, trying to guess what was going on. It wasn't hard. One arm remained crooked up, holding something. That something became blindingly clear when Daisuke picked one of them from the pile and flicked it outward. A Yokomon had been bouncing away, shrieking in fright, until the Evil Ring Daisuke threw netted her around the middle. 

At once she stopped in her tracks and turned toward the Kaiser. He gestured off to his left, and V-mon peeked up and over to see a collection of young Digimon, all with Rings on. 

_Why is he doing this?_ He could understand, sort of, putting Rings on Adult level Digimon and Spirals on Perfect levels, but why these little babies? They weren't useful, at least not the kind of useful that the Kaiser wanted. They were just _babies_. 

“Now, I just praised you, Daisuke,” the Kaiser nudged his captive in the shoulder. “What do you say when someone says something nice to you?” 

V-mon hated that voice of his, so smug and arrogant. He hated it even more when Daisuke answered. 

“Thank you, master.” He didn't sound like Daisuke at all! Daisuke would never sound this submissive or this ...this obedient! Daisuke didn't obey anyone! He wouldn't have obeyed the laws of gravity if he didn't have to! 

The Kaiser patted him on the shoulder now. “Good boy. Now, finish this up. Those idiots will be here soon.” 

“As you wish, master.” 

V-mon dug his face into the dirt to stifle his moan of pain. He knew why the Kaiser was doing this now. It wasn't just for the Chosen or to have more slaves. This was to _hurt Daisuke_. Somewhere inside of his mind the real Daisuke could see all of this and he would be screaming himself hoarse if he could. Not at all for how servile he had to, but for doing the exact opposite of what a true Chosen Child should do: protect others. 

Daisuke started to lift another Ring, and V-mon couldn't take it anymore. He charged forward, tackling Daisuke from behind, sending the Rings he'd been holding scattering. Before he could even get to his feet, he lifted his head and shouted to the few Digimon still around there who hadn't been caught yet. 

“Run! Get out of here! I'll keep them away from you!” He didn't care if he couldn't. He only cared that he had to do it. 

He scrambled to his feet, turning back to the Kaiser and Daisuke in the same moment. Now he saw what he'd missed before and his heart sank even deeper. It wasn't an Evil Ring that clamped around Daisuke's arm this time. Now an Evil Spiral decorated it. V-mon thought he could see a few signs that could be resistance, but they weren't all that strong. This wouldn't be an easy fight. 

The Kaiser turned his own cold gaze onto him. “And what are _you_ doing here? Shouldn't you be hiding in a hole somewhere without your partner?” 

“My partner's right here!” V-mon declared, pointing at Daisuke. “And I'm going to get him back from you!” 

The Kaiser's laughed echoed all over the village. “Really? With one word from me, my slave here would put a Ring on _you_.” A cruel smile tilted his lips upward. “Perhaps you'd like to see what kind of Digimon you'd evolve into like that? I know _I_ would.” 

V-mon kept enough attention on Daisuke so if the other made a move for the Rings, he could get away in time. “Yeah, that's not going to happen. And his name is Daisuke!” 

“Oh, I know. But I'm calling him what he is now. What he's going to always be.” Ken ran his fingers through Daisuke's hair with a smirk of possessive pride that only grew worse when Daisuke leaned toward him. “See? He enjoys being my slave. It's what he was born for.” 

“You know, I've heard a lot of crap coming out of your mouth, Ken, but that's got to be the biggest load of it ever.” 

Ken and V-mon both turned to stare at the unexpected voice. There stood Pegasumon, with Takeru on his back, Nefertimon a pace or two away with Hikari, Miyako upon Holsmon, and Iori and Digmon. 

And as if that wasn't enough – which it would've been in V-mon's opinion – Taichi stood with Greymon and Yamato with Garurumon. _None_ of them looked even remotely happy about any of this. 

Taichi, who'd spoken up, frowned at the Kaiser. “You know you're not going to win this. So just be as smart as you claim you are and give us back Daisuke.” 

“Would you just hand over something of yours to someone else?” The Kaiser sneered, gripping Daisuke's shoulder. “Slave, stay away from them. Stay behind me at all times.” 

“Yes, Kaiser-sama.” 

V-mon really, truly wanted to believe that there was anger and rage in Daisuke's voice, no matter what he said. He made himself believe it. His Daisuke was still in there and he wanted to get out. He probably also wanted to punch Ken in the face. 

V-mon knew for a fact that he wanted to punch Ken in the face. 

From the look on everyone else's face, there would probably be a line dedicating to punching the Kaiser once this was all over with. And the sooner that line got started, the better, in V-mon's opinion. He started to make another jump toward Daisuke, only for Wormmon to get in the way. 

“Stay back!” The smaller Digimon declared, quivering all over. V-mon knew Wormmon would defend Ken no matter what, even if that meant protecting Daisuke from being freed. He couldn't do otherwise. V-mon didn't blame him at all for it. They might meet on occasion and not be enemies, but now wasn't one of those occasions. 

“Let's get Daisuke out of there,” Taichi said, looking at Yamato. Both of them were already mounted on their partners, and now they started toward the enslaved leader of the Chosen Children. 

Ken's whip came out a heartbeat later, flashing towards first Taichi, then Yamato, keeping them back skillfully. “Come near my slave and both of your Digimon will become mine again. You remember what that was like, don't you, Greymon?” He sneered, keeping himself in between Daisuke and the others. “I know that I do.” 

Greymon growled low but said nothing else. Taichi ran a soothing hand down his partner's spine. 

“Don't listen to him, buddy. We know he's nothing but hot air.” 

“And this 'hot air' has your former leader and is going to keep him. He's finally made himself properly useful to me.” Ken didn't look over his shoulder as he addressed Daisuke. “Slave. Get on the AirDramon and back to the fortress. Stay there and wait for me to get back.” 

“Yes, Kaiser-sama.” 

Daisuke started toward the AirDramon. V-mon knew he had to get there first; if Daisuke went back, they might not _ever_ find him again. It would all depend on if Ken wanted to bring him out to show off, and they couldn't count on that forever. 

He wasn't the only one who realized that; Yamato and Taichi started for Daisuke as well. Ken snapped his whip and more of his enslaved Digimon, the ones he'd brought with him, marched forward. 

“Keep them away from my slave!” Ken ordered. “He is to be protected from them at all costs!” 

V-mon didn't bother going for Daisuke. Not directly, anyway. He moved back from Wormmon, eyes flicking over to the waiting AirDramon. He thought Wormmon guessed what he had in mind. The other Digimon didn't make a move, though. 

“I won't let you get through here,” he said, and V-mon knew Wormmon _did_ know. And he was doing what he could to help, little though it was. 

“I don't expect you to,” V-mon said. He didn't wait another moment, but charged toward the AirDramon, going at an angle, dodging among the fighting Digimon, and hoping that he could get there before Daisuke did. 

**To Be Continued**


	13. Battle

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 13: Battle  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,125||story: 28,302  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** [WIP, Ken  & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

Daisuke's legs carried him toward the AirDramon rapidly. Every ounce of his inner strength wanted to turn back or turn away, to do anything except what Ken told him to do. But the Spiral didn't allow him to do anything more than vaguely think of such a thing. 

Living with the Spiral's influence was an unusual experience. Daisuke didn't know what Ken had done to it so that his eyes didn't glow the usual red. If he'd had the ability to think about it in more than a loose way, he would've guessed that it had something to do with helping it to work on humans. He didn't know, and ultimately didn't care. What mattered was that it _worked_ , in both ways. It worked on him and he didn't have scary red glowing eyes. 

It was almost as if Daisuke had two minds now, or his mind was split in two. He couldn't make up his mind on which it was. One mind, the deeper and more hidden one, was his own, which screamed and fought and raged against everything that Ken told him to do short of actually breathing. The other, the one that was in complete control fo what he did, obeyed Ken eagerly and willingly, looking to 'Kaiser-sama' for all of his instructions. 

That part of his mind had taken a fiendish pleasure in throwing those Rings on the poor defenseless young Digimon and seeing how they became subservient to the Kaiser. That part of his mind saw V-mon and the others, and instead of rejoicing at the arrival of his friends, cursed that they wanted to take him away from his master. 

If Daisuke's lower mind had had even ten seconds of access to his stomach and the ability to do so, he would've thrown up everything he'd eaten in sheer disgust. But that too was denied him. All he could do was what he'd been told, and that meant heading for AirDramon to go back to the fortress. 

He could hear V-mon rushing toward him, and the signs of battle were erupting all around him. He avoided them all, eyes only on the AirDramon, sparing attention for the battle only to make certain no Digimon or human got too close to him. And yet V-mon kept coming. 

_No, V-mon,_ Daisuke begged to himself, knowing it was useless. _Stay back. I don't want to hurt you._ And if V-mon got too close, he _knew_ Ken would make certain that he hurt him. So far the command had only been to stay away from them. If Ken thought he was at too much risk for being freed, it would get worse. Ever so much worse. 

He knew full well that sometimes fighting someone you cared about was the only way to help them. He'd had that proven to him quite handily during the whole MetalGreymon experience. But being on this side of the field didn't give any better options. They would fight him if they had to, but he couldn't make any decisions on fighting back. He could only do as Ken told him. 

And he _hated it_. 

* * *

V-mon couldn't catch up to Daisuke as quickly as he wanted to. He tried, but his legs were short and there were so many Digimon in the way. Not just the big and strong ones that Ken brought to fight with, but all of the small ones that he and his slave had inflicted Rings upon. 

V-mon decided in a heartbeat that he wasn't going to call that creature Daisuke until the Spiral was off of him. He wasn't Daisuke. He was just a Daisuke shell, one that looked a little like him and that was it. But V-mon swore that he'd get his real partner back, no matter if he had to ride along with them back to the Kaiser's lair and live there until he had a chance to do it. 

The thought wasn't one that he liked, but he needed to do something to get his partner back. He'd gladly do a thousand things he didn't like in order to get Daisuke. 

Young Digimon crowded in front of him, growling fiercely to warn him off from Daisuke. V-mon struggled to get through them, glad on the one paw that they weren't too big, since that gave him better chances to get through them. On the other paw, they were just babies, not even strong enough to have a proper attack, and he hated pushing them aside. It made him feel like something of a bully, in all honesty. He wondered if the Kaiser felt like that at all. 

Probably not. If he did, then he wouldn't do this in the first place. 

_Why is my only attack right now headbutting them?_ If he had something like Wormmon's Sticky Net, then he could use that to tie up the little ones and keep them out of his way. He'd never put any thought into how he would fight someone that much smaller than he was. 

Daisuke was way too near the AirDramon. V-mon came to a quick decision and crouched down, launching himself over the pile of interfering little Digimon, rolling over until he crashed against Daisuke's leg. The boy stumbled, but recovered himself, turning toward V-mon automatically. 

But as soon as he did and saw who was there, Daisuke pulled himself away. V-mon was close enough to see his expression now, and while his features revealed nothing at all, Daisuke's eyes shimmered briefly with pain. 

“Hey!” V-mon did his best to cheerfully greet his partner, despite how flat the word fell. “Don't worry, we're going to get you out of this! I promise!” 

Still no reaction other than Daisuke starting back toward the AirDramon. V-mon wrapped his arms tightly around Daisuke's leg, clinging with every bit of his strength. 

“You're not going without me! You want to go there, fine! But I'm coming too!” 

The briefest of hesitation crossed Daisuke's face, followed by a moment of confusion. V-mon just clung harder and shook his head. “You can't get rid of me!” 

“Slave!” Ken's voice whipped across the battlefield. “I told you to get on the AirDramon and go home!” 

Daisuke turned toward the Kaiser. “I want to, Kaiser-sama, but this Digimon won't let go of my leg.” 

V-mon wasn't close enough to the Kaiser to hear what he said, and he didn't think that he wanted to be. The way Ken stalked over toward them, ignoring every Digimon or human that tried to get in his way, told him far more than he wanted to hear anyway. 

Taichi and Yamato weren't easily ignored, however. Greymon rose up fierce and strong in the Kaiser's path, Garurumon leaping into position behind him. 

“Give it up, Ken. We're not stopping until we get Daisuke back, even if we have to hunt down your base and tear it open from the inside out to do it!” Taichi declared, clenching one fist. 

The Kaiser's whip twitched in his fist. “Do you not understand that I will _never_ let him go? He. Belongs. To. _Me_.” 

“Nope. Don't think we do understand that. Maybe you don't understand that he doesn't. The difference between us is that we're right and you're not,” Yamato put in. “What makes you want him, anyway?” 

Ken lifted his head, starting to draw his whip backwards. “I don't need to answer to any of you. I want him because I want him, and that's all that you need to know.” 

Garurumon dodged before Ken could make the strike, leaping over the Kaiser and racing towards Daisuke. Ken growled darkly, snapping his fingers to call a Tyrannomon to him. 

“Get them away from my slave!” he ordered all the rest of his army. “If they take him back, you'll all pay for it!” 

No one knew if the enslaved Digimon understood the threat or not. What they knew was that the Digimon surged toward them all, a dozen times more ferocious than they'd been before. 

“Slave! Get on that AirDramon! If it means taking that Digimon along, then so be it!” Ken snapped, urging the Tyrannomon closer. “I can put a Spiral on him just as easily as any other Digimon.” 

V-mon clung harder at that. He knew it was a risk to do this, but he couldn't have done anything else. He trusted that the others would break it on him no matter what. Just like they were going to break it on Daisuke. 

Daisuke stumbled forward, not quite close enough to get on the AirDramon. A sudden idea coursed through V-mon's mind as he saw his own claws starting to prick through Daisuke's pants. 

_Sorry about this, buddy. Hope you can forgive me._ He tightened his grip even more, digging his claws through Daisuke's pants, sharp enough to draw blood. Then he pulled his head back and shot it forward, jaws closing around Daisuke's calf. 

While Daisuke wasn't quite able to do anything conscious without the Kaiser's command, a howl of pain wasn't a conscious act, not when he'd been bitten like this. He stumbled again, this time going down on his knees, and V-mon hoped this would contribute just a little to saving both of them. 

He could taste Daisuke's blood in his mouth and he spat, trying to get rid of it. How could people or Digimon eat rare meat, he wondered ridiculously in the back of his mind? This was neither the time nor the place for that, he reminded himself, and wrapped his arms tighter. He had one job, to keep Daisuke from the AirDramon, and he'd do it no matter what it cost him. 

* * *

Ken wanted to scream. If he wasn't the Kaiser of the Digital World, he might have done so. Everything had been going so perfectly, until the Chosen decided to show up and _wreck everything_ that he'd had in mind. Why couldn't they simply _accept_ this? Why did they have to keep fighting for such a lost cause? He'd never seen a more stubborn bunch. Even Daisuke, the living soul of being stubborn, bowed to the inevitable. 

Or so Ken liked to tell himself. He still thought he detected a few moments of resistance, but those would fade in due time. These battles against the Chosen kept the other boy's defiance rising up again and again. But it would be those same battles that crushed that hope in the end, when Daisuke finally realized that nothing they did would ever free him. 

He'd get used to it in the end. It wasn't as if Ken abused him in any way. It was probably a better life than he'd had before. He could eat whatever Ken chose to give him and didn't have to waste his time in studying when he could kneel at Ken's side and be a supportive handrest. He would no longer lead a losing battle against Ken either. What more could Daisuke possibly want out of life? 

But to get that started, he needed to get Daisuke out of here, and keep him firmly in the base until he understood everything properly. It would work into his plans; the Chosen couldn't rescue him on the field and they couldn't find him once he was in the base. It would all work out perfectly. 

He hadn't meant to include V-mon in his plans. So far as he was concerned, the moment that he'd captured Daisuke, V-mon became little more than a useless bit of data that didn't need to be worried about. Without Daisuke around, he couldn't evolve, and that made him worthless. 

Apparently V-mon hadn't gotten the memo on that one, however, as he clung to Daisuke's leg and actually _bit him_. 

Never had Ken seen a Digimon partner that devoted to his human. Yes, they'd fought against MetalGreymon but that had been an entirely different situation. This almost made him wonder if they truly would keep fighting until they somehow recovered Daisuke. 

_No. They can try but it won't happen._ He'd stated it before and would until they grasped it. He wasn't going to allow this, under any circumstances. 

He brought his Tyrannomon to a halt beside Daisuke and leaped down, glaring at V-mon ferociously and pulled his whip back. “If you're that insistent on staying with him, then let's see how you look with one of my Spirals on as well!” 

V-mon opened his mouth but Ken wasn't interested in hearing a word the blue bit of fluff had to say. Instead, he brought his whip down hard with one hand, and produced a Spiral with his other. He almost flicked it on, until a better idea occurred to him. He turned to his slave. 

“Put this Spiral on V-mon.” 

**To Be Continued**


	14. Disaster

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 14: Disaster  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,123||story: 30,425  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.   
**Summary:** [14/20 chapters, Ken  & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

V-mon heard the Kaiser's command far too clearly. He wanted to believe that Daisuke would balk at that. Daisuke couldn't do it, could he? Could he think about doing it? 

Well, he might not think about it; might not want to, but his hand already reached for the Spiral. The one that he wore didn't allow him to disobey. 

Which left V-mon with less than a pawful of options to his name. He could start running, in which case he didn't doubt the Kaiser would send Daisuke after him, and he'd probably end up Spiralled anyway. Too many of the Kaiser's Digimon slaves ranged in between him and the other Chosen to make getting to them a reasonable option. Though if he could get Daisuke to chase him like that... 

Aside from that, there was always tackling Daisuke again and gnawing on him until he dropped the Spiral. That one at least held a somewhat better chance at success, as much as V-mon didn't want to. He'd already bit Daisuke once already, and he planned to apologize for a week once this whole mess ended. 

Then another option presented itself. So far as he could tell this would likely be the worst of them all, and that meant it might even have a slim chance of succeeding. 

He remembered watching a movie with Daisuke just a few days earlier, where some guy fought against a master swordsman, perhaps even more skilled than the mysterious Igamon, and won because in Daisuke's own words, he didn't have the foggiest clue of what to do. 

_"They say that you really shouldn't be worried about people with all that training," Daisuke told him. "But the ones who don't know what they're doing, because they'll do something you can't expect. Once you're trained, people know what you can do so they can plan for you._

V-mon hadn't been certain then and he wasn't certain now how true that was. But doing something really stupid just might be the smartest thing to do right now, when every option seemed worse than the one before it. 

So, even as Daisuke approached, Spiral in hand, V-mon dodged away from him and charged the Kaiser. Wormmon wasn't close enough to get in the way, and the Kaiser's attention remained focused on Daisuke, at least until he realized exactly what the streak of blue charging at him actually was. 

From the widening of his eyes, just visible behind his glasses, V-mon thought that Ken couldn't believe what those eyes told him. That was fine with him. The more surprised the Kaiser was, the better this might end up. 

He bounced off the ground right in front of Ken and tackled him around the stomach, clawing with one leg at the hand that held the Kaiser's whip. That he wanted away from him as soon as possible. He struck again and again, crawling up until he reached the back of Ken's head and wrapping his tiny arms around the human's neck, holding on for dear life. 

* * *

Of all the moves that the Kaiser had imagined that a Digimon threatened with an Evil Spiral might make, attacking him wasn't one of them. Especially not when said Digimon barely reached past his own knee in height and didn't come with anything like a powerful attack. If one were larger or stronger, then he might have considered it. But V-mon? No. Not at all. 

Which explained why he ended up far too surprised to move when V-mon did just that, crawling up him as if he were a jungle gym and clinging with all the strength in his tiny body. 

"What do you think you're doing?" He tried his best to get hold of the small Digimon but he moved around too much. His arms gripped around Ken's neck in a matter of moments, clinging with a strength that the Kaiser had not expected could be found in such a small Digimon. 

He wriggled and squirmed with all of his own strength, batting at the annoying creature. Under most other circumstances, he could've disposed of him with ease. However, V-mon's paws held firm right over his throat and the more Ken fought, the harder those paws pressed against him. 

_I am not going to be choked by a creature whose **former** partner belongs to me!_ He had no intentions of being choked by any Digimon to start with, but it would be far worse if it were by V-mon of all Digimon. 

This was not going to happen. Ken scrambled one hand behind him in an attempt to get the stubborn creature off, but he couldn't get a good grip because of just where V-mon hung firmly. His enslaved Digimon wouldn't attack even if he commanded them to; they had orders never to attack him no matter what happened, orders that even he couldn't override. And attacking V-mon right now would be the same as attacking him. 

Every moment made drawing in enough air more difficult. Ken wasn't even certain just now where the enemy Chosen were, aside from still hearing the vague sounds of combat from somewhere. The battle itself only meant something to him in the sense that it kept them from trying to take back Daisuke. No matter how many of his slaves they freed, they wouldn't get the one that mattered the most. 

Nor would V-mon make any progress toward that, even if he choked the life out of Ken. He'd made plans in the event of his death, though he sincerely doubted such a thing could even happen here. It didn't matter to him if it could or couldn't. He would not _let_ it happen. 

He managed to get one hand gripped firmly on V-mon's smaller arm and shoved. For all of V-mon's surprising strength, Ken knew he was still stronger. The angles were difficult to deal with and without all the air he would've liked to have had, it still wasn't as _easy_ as it should have been. 

But regardless, he pushed harder, and V-mon's paws slid away from his throat just the tiniest bit. How he'd worked them down to get to Ken's throat, the Kaiser wasn't certain. But now he could breathe. And talk. 

* * *

Daisuke hovered in indecision. On the one hand, his master wanted him out of there and his legs kept wanting to move on to the AirDramon and do so. On the other hand, he'd also been told to put the Spiral on V-mon. A small voice in the extreme back of his mind, cloaked in shadows and chains, did not want that at all and howled like winter winds if he even started to inch toward the Digimon. 

And when that Digimon shot past him to tackle the Digimon Kaiser, Daisuke froze even more. He didn't dare attempt to put the Spiral on the target now, not when he hung around his master's neck like that. He couldn't be certain of it hitting or fastening on properly if he did, and Daisuke did not want to bring any sort of harm to his master. 

_Yes, I do. I want to smack him upside the head for putting that thing on me in the first place._

Daisuke didn't know where that voice came from, aside from the deepest back of his mind. He didn't like hearing it. It didn't obey his master. 

_Damn right I don't. He's not my master._

Nonsense, of course. The Digimon Kaiser owned him in every possible way and that would never change. 

_I wish I could make a bet with myself. I'd win it no matter what._

What a strange voice. Daisuke wanted it to go away and leave him be so he could decide what he did. He needed to help somehow, but the slightest move could put Master in danger with how close V-mon clung to his throat. 

_I'm gonna have to get him some cookies for that. The chocolate chip ones that he really likes._

Now that, more than anything, told Daisuke that this voice, no matter what it said, wasn't him in any way. Why would he want to reward some Digimon for _hurting_ the master? It made no sense at all. 

_I have got to get this Spiral off of me. I'm stupid with it on._

Daisuke mentally rolled his eyes. He didn't remember very much about his life before the Spiral. He didn't need to; Master knew anything and everything that he needed to know. But if this voice could somehow be a remnant of that time, then it should just die and let him run matters from now on. Being Master's slave was the greatest of honors. 

_I think I'm going to be sick._

Daisuke turned his attention to his Kaiser-sama and the annoying V-mon. The little voice could just wait until all of this ended before he dealt with it. 

_Not listening to me isn't going to make me go away._

But then something else, far more important, took all of Daisuke's attention. His master spoke, and the words cut deep into him. 

"Didn't you hear me? I said to put that Spiral on this Digimon, and do it _now_!" He could not fail his master! 

_Uh-oh._ Oddly enough, Daisuke couldn't tell if he'd thought that or the other voice of his. 

* * *

Takeru could only catch a glimpse of sunlight gleaming off of Daisuke's goggles but it was enough for him to keep track of the other Chosen. In the thick of Digimon and humans going this way and that, keeping tabs on one person wasn't as easy as it might've sounded. Especially when that person did his level best to avoid being seen. 

Moment by moment, however, the thick of the attacking Digimon thinned out, thanks to their efforts in getting rid of the Evil Rings and Spirals. Those Digimon they freed headed off of the battlefield in an attempt to reclaim their lives. If he'd had the time to do so, he would've wished them well. 

As it was, his focus remained on keeping track of Daisuke. Thankfully this wasn't an area Ken had gotten around to putting one of those towers up in, which meant they had Greymon and Garurumon on their side. He wasn't going to turn down the possibility of Angemon and Angewomon lending them a hand either. Any help they could get that would shatter the Spiral on Daisuke would be _very_ welcome. 

It still turned his stomach to think of that. He would make certain it didn't last long, though. Not any longer than could be avoided. 

Pegasumon swept forward and Takeru got a clearer look at what was going on with Daisuke and Ken. Or more accurately, Daisuke, Ken, and V-mon. The blue Digimon clung to the Kaiser's neck like a burr, keeping himself safe from the Spiral that rested in Daisuke's hand ready to be thrown, and from the Digimon scattered there as well. 

Only that ploy wasn't lasting as long as Takeru could've hoped. Not with Ken prying V-mon's paws away from his throat and demanding for Daisuke to obey him. 

"Guys!" He would need help for this. His D-3 rested comfortably in one hand, and Takeru hoped with every scrap of his ability to do so that his plan would work. The idea of what could happen if it didn't bid fair to fill his nightmares. 

Well, they hadn't failed yet. He wasn't going to borrow trouble. Instead, he pointed to where he saw their opponents and headed down there. 

"Daisuke!" He howled the name as loud as his lungs could manage it. "Don't do it!" 

Daisuke didn't even look up at him. There wasn't a shred of awareness in his eyes beyond what focused on Ken and presumably his orders. The Kaiser smirked. 

"Really, you think he's going to listen to anyone who isn't me? Every moment he wears my Spiral, he becomes more my slave. It's even possible that it could reach a point where even _if_ you can get it off of him, he'll still belong to me." 

Icy fingers of fear clutched around Takeru's heart. He shook them off with a defiant toss of his head. 

"Not going to happen, _Ken_!" They needed to act, and act fast. 

One of Ken's AirDramon darted in front of him, knocking him a little off balance. In the precious seconds he lost trying to get back into place, Daisuke stepped forward and tossed the Evil Spiral as if he'd done so for all of his life. 

"Daisuke!" V-mon's cry tore into the heart of all those there, save for Ken and Daisuke. " _No_!" 

The Evil Spiral landed on V-mon's arm and a moment later, his eyes flashed red. 

**To Be Continued**

**Note:** This story now also is a fill for the what-if _What if V-mon were possessed by a Dark Spiral_.


	15. Unholy Fires

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 15: Unholy Fires  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,147||story: 32,572  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** [15/20 chapters, Ken  & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

V-mon wanted to rip it off. It clung to him like some sort of disease, and he couldn't even move to poke at it, much less try to get it off of himself. He'd never imagined what it would be like having an Evil Spiral on his arm, though he'd been threatened with one within a day of having emerged from his long slumber underneath the Digimental of Courage. He'd been saved then. 

Not so now. 

It was almost like being torn in two. Half of him wanted nothing more than to scream and attack the Kaiser with all of his might. The other half wanted to get down on his knees before his new master and await his orders. 

The second part also wanted to defend Daisuke from anyone who wasn't the master. Daisuke belonged to the Digimon Kaiser as much as V-mon did, and there was no way to get around that. 

"V-mon," the master spoke and V-mon straightened up at once, scarlet eyes turned toward him. "Protect Daisuke at all costs. He is not to leave with the Chosen under any circumstances. Do you understand?" 

"Yes, master." V-mon replied without hesitation. There was nothing he could do to argue against the command, even if he'd wanted to. Protecting Daisuke was a part of who he was, no matter who gave the orders. 

The master now turned to Daisuke, and the part of V-mon that wanted nothing more than to see him defeated noticed the smug smile on his lips. The Kaiser ruled this moment, and he knew it very well. 

"I think we've done enough here." He glanced back to the Chosen, triumph written across his features. "Do you perhaps understand _now_ that nothing you can do will stop me from keeping Daisuke? Everything that's his is mine, and that even includes his Digimon now." 

The blond one - Takeru, V-mon recalled - stepped forward, fists clenched in anger. "That's something we're never going to understand! You don't own people! And you don't own Digimon!" 

"I think you'll find that I actually do." The Kaiser gestured towards Daisuke. "Who owns you, Daisuke? Who do you belong to?" 

"You, master," Daisuke replied without a moment of hesitation. V-mon couldn't have been prouder. Or more hurt. He was quite glad he didn't have to decide how he felt, since he couldn't make up his mind. 

The Kaiser patted Daisuke on the head. "You're learning very well. I'm quite proud of you." 

Oddly enough, Takeru looked as if he were about to lose his last meal. V-mon didn't understand that. Wasn't it right to obey one's master? 

_No!_ That other part of him howled it out and V-mon wondered why. Before the Ring had been set on him, he'd thought somewhat like the human did. But now everything was so different. 

He shook his head a tiny fraction. Perhaps the Master would be able to figure this out, because he knew that he couldn't. Or it would be better not to even try and to simply focus on his mission to protect Daisuke from the Chosen Children. 

* * *

If Daisuke could've howled any louder, or in a way where people could've heard him, he thought perhaps something would've bled from it. He banged his hands on the solid nothing that surrounded him. The longer the Evil Spiral remained on his arm, the stronger that nothing became. Sometimes he didn't think he could see or hear anything at all through it. 

_Do something! Someone!_ He hated not being able to do anything himself. But he didn't even _have_ his D-3, let alone anything else that would've let him do something. 

And now V-mon... Daisuke tried not to choke up. This was his partner. His friend. His best friend, the one who saw him screw everything up and only wanted to help him get better. 

With a Spiral on his arm, just like Daisuke had on his. He choked up, eyes burning with tears he didn't want to let go. What could he do? He didn't want to give up, but every time he tried to do something, Ken did something to get around it or stop him or just block him. 

He'd never thought about hating Ken this much. Daisuke just didn't hate people. But now he wanted to hate Ken, and he wasn't sure if he couldn't because of the Spiral's effects or because he just wasn't built to hate people. 

He'd figure it out once it was off. He couldn't let himself believe that it wouldn't happen. Sure, it might take a while. Maybe Ken would take them back to the fortress and he wouldn't be let out for a while. He'd have to wait until the others could find him again, no matter how long it took. 

Daisuke wondered how many nightmares just that thought was going to give him. Probably more than he could conveniently count. He kind of wished he could go to sleep right now and get them over with. 

But with Ken there, he didn't dare slip up for a second. It was bad enough that he couldn't affect himself on any real level. He wasn't going to close his eyes and let the Kaiser take over _every_ part of himself. 

Even if he didn't know for certain how much, if any, control he had, and the more time that passed, the more he feared the answer was 'none at all'. 

He drew in a long breath and shook his head. No. He wasn't giving in. This wasn't over. He would tell himself that as many times as he needed to until it _was_ over, in a way that he found acceptable. Preferably being in his bed, in his parents' apartment, Chibimon curled up next to him, and both of them doing their level best not to think about now. 

Again, slowly, he pounded on the dark nothing that surrounded him. "Let us go! Let V-mon go!" He would just about be ready to trade himself for V-mon on a permanent basis. It wasn't a decision he would've made when they'd first met, but after all this time? After knowing now what it was like for Digimon under the Kaiser's reign? He couldn't make any other choice. 

Then he saw the look on Ken's face and the bottom dropped out of his stomach. 

* * *

Ken knew quite well he was an evil overlord and he reveled in it. Why else would he do what he did? Someone had to play the role, after all, and he was very, very good at it. 

It even looked as if the evil overlord was going to win this time. Everything remained stacked in his favor. He had captured the leader of his enemies and enslaved his mind and body. If there were any part of Daisuke that didn't want to obey him, that part couldn't do a single thing about it. 

For bonus points, he'd even managed to get Daisuke's partner enslaved as well. That meant one less annoying Digimon who would try to take Daisuke away from him and one more who would keep his new favorite toy from being stolen by other people. 

There weren't too many ways Ken could see where the Chosen would come out on top this time. He'd figured out all of the angles and already worked out how to stop them. A few more moments, and he would take Daisuke back to the fortress, and he'd _never_ leave it again. No way for any of them to use their D-3s to get rid of the Evil Spiral. Success. Victory. 

But before that, there was something else he wanted to try out. It stood a small chance of failing, but he was more than willing to run the risk. 

"V-mon!" He pointed at the Digimon, who straightened up at once. "If they're not going to get this, then I've got one way to pound it into them, and that's with you!" 

The Chosen had to guess what he had in mind. They all looked horrified as it was. Well, they hadn't yet seen anything that would really terrify them. So he was going to fix that. They didn't have enough fodder for nightmares yet in his opinion. 

"Evolve, V-mon!" 

He'd always somewhat wondered what the Chosen who armor evolved would look like if they could evolve normally, but more from a sense of curiosity than anything else. If he wanted them to do that, he wouldn't have put up the towers in the first place. 

But now he had a chance to see, and he wasn't going to waste it. 

Dark spirals of energy burst forth from his Dark Digivice, swirling all around V-mon. The smallest of protesting sounds came from Daisuke, but Ken paid no attention to it. If Daisuke wanted to be upset, then he could do so in decent silence. He wasn't allowed to have an opinion that Ken didn't give to him anyway. 

"V-mon, evolve to..." For a few frozen moments, everything seemed to hang in a balance, tipping between darkness and light. Ken focused his will on the darkness. This was what he wanted, and he would have nothing else. "Dark Lizamon!" 

He was beautiful. Ken stared down at the lovely creation he'd just made with something akin to awe. Not as powerful or as delightful as the one he was making for himself, but suitable for Daisuke's partner in his new role as Ken's slave. 

Time to test out his new slave. "Dark Lizamon! Attack the Chosen Children!" 

* * *

_If I could label the last couple of days, I think **absolutely horrible** wouldn't be strong enough to manage it._ Takeru clung to Pegasumon's mane, wishing he could get closer to Daisuke. Hard enough to get him free of the Evil Spiral, but now V-mon? And now V-mon in a dark evolution? 

Takeru shook his head, gripping tighter onto his D-3. With V-mon, or Dark Lizamon, standing in between them and Daisuke, everything had just gotten five times as complicated. 

"Attack the Chosen Children!" Make that ten times more complicated. 

This wasn't like when he'd dark evolved Greymon. Takeru couldn't decide if it were worse or not, and decided right now wasn't the time to label it. 

Dark fires pelted toward them and Takeru clung harder as Pegasumon dodged to the side. "At least we can fight back on this one!" Digimon wearing Spirals were old hat to them now. It didn't make it any better, but it was something they could handle. 

He tried to keep at least some of his attention on Daisuke, but with how quickly Pegasumon had to move to avoid Dark Lizamon's attacks, it wasn't easy. In fact, it bordered on the impossible. Takeru didn't like trying to do to the impossible. It tended to give him a headache and put him out of sorts for days. 

Dark Lizamon didn't focus all of his attention on Takeru, either. As soon as Nefertimon passed by, he sent a gout of dark hellfire toward her, and swiped at Digmon when the spiral-nosed Digimon came within reach. 

"If we tie him up, maybe - " Takeru faltered for a moment; Daisuke and V-mon, in whatever form, tended to do a lot of their final strikes. He shook his head; they could manage this. It would just take some creative thinking. "Tie him up, let's see if Digmon or Holsmon can get rid of the Spiral!" That would be stage one. Stage two would follow with freeing Daisuke. 

Now if the Kaiser would just be so polite as not to get in the way of steps one and two. In fact, if he would be so polite as to surrender, that would make a very good step three. But while Takeru hoped by nature, even he wasn't going to place any serious wagers on that last one. 

He'd manage with steps one and two. They could figure out a way to make step three happen afterward. 

Unfortunately, the Kaiser didn't seem all that eager to agree to steps one and two either. 

"Don't you dare! Dark Lizamon, put a stop to them!" 

Takeru and Pegasumon circled around, more to attempt to avoid Dark Lizamon's dark flames than anything else. They needed to get into position to use their joint attack with Nefertimon, preferably without getting singed or incinerated along the way. Doing this put Takeru in a position to see what Ken was doing, and he groaned audibly at what he saw. 

_He's taking Daisuke away! We've got to stop him!_ Which he'd known all along, but to see their rescue slip out of their grasp did not improve the quality of the day at all. 

Takeru's eyes narrowed. No. Ken wasn't going to get away with this, no matter what he had to do. He leaned forward and whispered into Pegasumon's ear. 

"Let's get him." 

**To Be Continued**

**Note:** Dark Lizamon is one of V-mon's alternate evolutions.


	16. Pain

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 16: Pain  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,061||story: 34.633  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** [16/20 chapters, Ken  & Daisuke, What-if Challenge & Summer/Autumn Event 2014] Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

Ken wasn't wasting any more time. Dark Lizamon could keep the Chosen occupied while he took Daisuke back to the base. He truly didn't care if they broke the Spiral off of him or not; V-mon was little more than an extra accessory, something he'd taken in order to twist the knife inside of Daisuke a little more. The fact he would prove a tiny bit useful was merely a bonus. 

Daisuke didn't protest as they moved onto the AirDramon. That was good; the Evil Spiral's work was nearly complete. Ken didn't know what would happen if it remained on him much longer. Most of his slaves didn't wear one for more than a few weeks at most, depending on how long it took him to send them out against the Chosen or the Chosen to find and break them free. He'd deliberately set this one to take its time sinking metaphorical hooks into Daisuke, wanting to savor the pain the other suffered. 

But sooner or later, the Daisuke that had been would be no more, and he would be left with a simple slave, one who served his master in all things. 

_That might almost be boring._ Part of what he enjoyed about having Daisuke around was knowing that somewhere in there was still the spitfire that he'd first fought against and who he first caught. Though having him be silent and obedient did have its perks. 

Daisuke did make a very good handrest, after all. 

He would give it a few months before he made up his mind on whether or not he actually missed Daisuke and his fiery ways. He would have to get used to the idea, after all. No need to make a snap decision. 

"Sit!" He snapped, waiting only a few breaths for Wormmon to wiggle up before he stomped one foot on AirDramon's back. "Get up! We're leaving!" 

Daisuke knelt down beside Ken without a moment's hesitation, head bent downward. Wormmon crouched next to him; the only reason Ken even bothered to care about him being there was because he didn't want the ridiculous bug to be caught by the Chosen. As if they'd ever do anything to hurt a Digimon! But what was his, was his, and Wormmon was his. 

At least for now anyway. He had plans to change that in the very near future. 

Daisuke, as he'd told the Chosen multiple times by now, also belonged to him. If the Evil Spiral wasn't enough to convince them, then he'd have to come up with something else. That sounded like a fantastic way to end several evenings, plotting out just what would be a fitting way to persuade them. 

AirDramon hadn't lifted more than a few feet before something passed far too close. Ken jerked his head back just in time to see a flank of gold and furious blue eyes staring down at him. It registered only in the heartbeats afterward that it was Takaishi Takeru there. 

What registered _first_ was that whoever it was had just ripped Daisuke off of AirDramon and sped away. 

* * *

Takeru kept his grip on Daisuke's collar as Pegasumon soared back around to where the others still fought Dark Lizamon. He wished he'd been able to do this sooner; maybe they could've avoided V-mon getting enslaved in the first place. 

What was done was done, however, and at least he had him now. This should make everything so much easier to deal with. One hit with the D-3 to get rid of the one on Daisuke, a quick hit to get rid of the one on V-mon, and everything would be back to normal. 

Or as normal as they could make it; neither Agumon nor Taichi had been completely themselves for days after their experience, and Taichi hadn't had to deal with having a Spiral on himself. But they'd do what they could for Daisuke. 

At the moment, just keeping a hold on him was all that he could do, since Daisuke struggled as hard he could, hands clawing at Takeru's. 

"Let me go! Let me go!" The words struggled to escape his throat as Takeru's grip tightened on his shirt. "How dare you!" 

"Funny what we'll do to help our friends, isn't it?" Takeru could not help a small, weary smile. "You'll thank me for this in a little while." 

"No, I won't!" Daisuke fought harder and Takeru had to redouble his grip as the other nearly slid away from him. 

"Pegasumon! Think we can land for a second?" The sooner this ended, the happier they would all be about it. 

His partner's response was to tilt downward and plant all four feet firmly on the ground. Daisuke wriggled harder and pulled himself out of Takeru's grip, landing face-first on the ground. He stayed there for as long as it took him to catch his breath, which was little more than a moment, just long enough for Takeru to get off Pegasumon and pull out his D-3. 

"Like I said, you're going to thank me for this in a little while," Takeru said, flipping the device around to face Daisuke. "For right now, though, I'd appreciate it if you stood still." 

Naturally, Daisuke did nothing of the sort. Even when he wasn't under a Spiral's power, the chances that he would do something just because Takeru asked him to were slim to none. So Takeru wasn't at all surprised when the redhead shot him a glare that should've caused serious injury, then started pelting back across to where Ken could just be seen in the distance. 

_Sorry, Daisuke, but that's done with._ He concentrated on the D-3 as he had once before, grinning as a beam of pale light whipped out from it, aimed right at Daisuke and the Spiral. 

Daisuke tripped, though if it were over air, his own two feet, some random branch on the ground, or because of the light, Takeru couldn't be certain. He moved closer to Daisuke instead, keeping the beam focused on him and on the Spiral. 

It hadn't taken all that long to get rid of the Ring. So why was this taking so much longer? 

* * *

Daisuke didn't think he could keep himself on his feet. Every time he tried to move, something pulled him down again. If it wasn't his own weariness, then that stupid, hateful light that kept pounding on him did it. He struggled and squirmed, taking stuttering breaths that did him little good, fingers clawing into the dirt beneath him. 

He didn't want any of this. He wanted to be with his master. He wanted the peace of the base and the silence of knowing that everything was going according to master's plans. 

A low keening noise slid from between his lips. No. No, that was the last thing that he wanted! He wanted to be _home_! With Chibimon and Jun, though not at the same time, because the thought of his sister knowing about his partner was too much to bear. Jun didn't need to know about this. But he wanted to be there with her anyway, to hear her tease him, to hear her pout about cute boys and why couldn't he get her a proper date with Yamato-san, didn't they know each other, and oh, Momoe had bought the _prettiest_ skirt the other day! 

He wanted to hear everything that he'd missed from the moment he'd fallen into Ken's trap, and he had never known how much he'd missed hearing it. 

He wanted to hear Miyako teasing him and Hikari's soft laugh and Takeru sounding astonished at something -which didn't happen nearly enough in Daisuke's opinion - and Iori speaking of his latest kendo lesson. 

He wanted to hear V-mon talking about anything at all. He didn't care what, so long as it was his partner and not that _demon_ he knew still ravaged against the Chosen. 

He flipped over onto his back, eyes wide as the light followed him, wrapped around the Spiral, which seemed only to squeeze tighter with every moment. 

He wanted his master. 

He wanted his family. 

He wanted Ichijouji Ken. 

He wanted his friends. 

Instead of a whine or a keen, a harsh, biting scream pulled itself from his lips this time, and tears coursed their scorching way down his cheeks. He didn't care who saw him or what they thought of him; that light burned like a kind of fire he'd never even thought of before. He wanted it to stop _so much_! 

If he had one of those of his own, could he stop it? Make it go away? He'd had one, hadn't he? Yes, he was certain that he had. But now it rested in his master's hands, and Daisuke didn't know where the Kaiser had left it. 

Which meant the only way he could save himself was to get back to his master. 

He shook his head, trying to make sense of all the nonsense flowing through it. He couldn't keep himself on one train of thought from one moment to the next. Every time he thought he could, the light jerked him out of it, or the darkness that poured from the Spiral did. 

He was the battleground, and he didn't know which side was winning or losing, only that he wanted this to end. 

* * *

Yamato and Taichi, along with their partners, dodged here and there to avoid Dark Lizamon's blasts and scraping claws. V-mon always had been a good fighter, and this dark evolution hadn't changed that at all. If anything, he was much more of an effective fighter now, since he didn't have anything or anyone holding him back. 

"Where'd Takeru go?" Yamato snapped as he passed Taichi, realizing that he hadn't seen his brother in far too long. He trusted the younger blond to take care of himself, but he worried regardless, especially in this case. One could never be too careful when the Kaiser was in this kind of foul mood. 

Taichi shook his head. "I lost track of him!" He knew exactly how Yamato felt; no matter how old they got, or how many times they all saved the world, they would always worry about their younger siblings. It was part and parcel of being the older one. 

Yamato ducked his head to avoid a swipe of Dark Lizamon's claws. He didn't like the idea of holding back, but until they could get him into a position for Digmon to take a strike at him, they had to at least keep him occupied. And for all that they outnumbered him, that was proving to be a lot more difficult than they would've imagined. 

A flash of light from one direction caught his attention, followed a breath later by the swirling cape of the Digimon Kaiser, coming from a different one. Yamato tracked both until he realized what he was seeing: the light from Takeru's D-3 wrapped around Daisuke, and the Kaiser stalking with fury set in his shoulders. 

He also held another Spiral in his hands, and while Yamato could not read their enemy's mind, from the way he was staring at Pegasumon, that didn't bode well at all. 

"Think you guys can keep him occupied?" Yamato jerked a thumb at Dark Lizamon, who'd now turned to stalking his way to where Miyako and Holsmon waited. Hikari and Nefertimon hovered above, and she must've heard him since she nodded quickly. "Good." 

He didn't wait for any word from Taichi, but nudged Garurumon toward where the Kaiser moved with all due speed. The less noise they made, the better their chances of not being seen, and that meant the better the chances were of this plan actually working. If he could even call it a plan. 

The closer he got, the more he could hear Daisuke's pained cries, and the more he winced at the sound of them. Takeru was trying, but it wasn't working, not if those howls were anything to go by. _Spirals are stronger than the Rings. We'll need to do something else._

The ghost of a thought of what they could do drifted by, but he didn't have time to grab it. Instead, he kept his eyes on where the Kaiser was, and the moment he was close enough, leaped off Garurumon's back and tackled the dark ruler of the Digital World.

**To Be Continued**


	17. Crack

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 17: Crack  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,048||story: 36,681  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

Ken had more ideas on how to deal with that blond annoyance than he could conveniently keep in his head right now. No one took what was his. _No one_! He couldn't make up his mind on if he wanted to set the Spiral he carried on Takaishi himself, on his four-footed partner, or just bang it over the idiot's head until he saw reason. 

All of those plans ended up flying out of his head when someone else tackled him from the side. He'd been so focused on gaining his revenge that he hadn't even noticed the soft, speedy run of Garurumon and his partner. 

He did, however, notice the tall tree that he found himself slammed into, his head spinning and Ishida Yamato's weight on top of him. Those things were a little hard to miss. 

"You know, you're pretty stubborn," Yamato told him, staring down at him. "But even you should figure out that you're just not going to come out on top here. We're never going to stop working to get our friend back." 

Ken growled, shoving the taller fool off of him and looking for where his whip and Spiral had fallen. The first he found quickly enough, but the second had a snarling Garurumon a breath away from it. There had never been a Digimon that he feared, and he saw no reason to start now, but without some backup of his own, Ken decided discretion would be the better part of world domination. 

"Your 'friend' no longer exists. Why don't _you_ realize that you're fighting a lost cause?" He sneered at the blond, clipping his whip back to his belt at the same time. "I've said this so many times I've lost count. He is _mine_ now." 

Yamato pulled himself to his feet and Ken only then noticed that he had two things in his hands: a gleaming blue D-3 and a D-Terminal, one that clearly wasn't his. 

It was Daisuke's. 

Ken barely had time to process this before Garurumon launched past him and Yamato leaped up onto his partner's back, still holding the D-3 and D-Terminal. 

_They must have fallen out when he knocked me down._ He knew he should've left them both at the fortress, but he'd wanted to make certain they were constantly under his supervision, just as Daisuke was. 

Well, it didn't matter. He wouldn't let it matter. They could hold those things all they wanted, so long as he still held the keys to Daisuke's soul. And so long as the Spiral remained firm, then no one could break the locks he'd put there. 

Daisuke's howl of pain spiraled up to the heavens, and Ken snarled profanity under his breath in three different languages. Did he have to do _everything_ around here to keep what was his out of profane hands? 

Apparently so. 

* * *

Takeru stumbled a little; he kept pouring energy into his D-3 but it wasn't doing any good for Daisuke. If anything, it sounded like the poor guy hurt more the longer the beam struck him. 

He started to lower his D-3; maybe this wasn't the good idea that he'd thought it was. Maybe they would need something else to get rid of the Spiral. He could not even conceive of giving up. He just needed to find another answer, the answer that _had_ to exist. 

"Takeru!" Yamato barreled out of nowhere on Garurumon, who skidded to a halt next to him. "Don't give up!" 

"Yamato? But it's not working." Takeru tightened his grip on his D-3, looking from Daisuke to his brother and back again. He didn't like admitting he didn't know what to do next. Especially not to his brother. 

Yamato rested one hand on his brother's shoulder. "I think you're on the right track. We just need something else to really get it to work." 

"What?" Takeru glanced back at Daisuke, who'd gone from howling in pain to simply shivering and shuddering on the ground, his arm where the Spiral rested tucked underneath him. Takeru lowered his D-3 all the way; he hadn't given up but he needed the rest, and Daisuke wasn't in a position for the D-3 to do its work anyway. 

"We're a team, remember?" Yamato's smile glimmered strong. "And that's how we do our best work." 

It took Takeru just a moment to process what his brother meant. Then his smile lit up most of his face. "Right. So let's get him over to the others." 

"Right. And the sooner, the better. The Kaiser - " Yamato broke off and Takeru knew why. While they'd been figuring this out, Ken stalked up to Daisuke and dug his fingers into Daisuke's mess of red-brown hair. 

Garurumon and Pegasumon reacted right away, as did Yamato and Takeru. Partners on their backs, the two Digimon darted forward, attacks blazing in an attempt to get the Kaiser away from their friend. 

No one bothered to exchange words anymore. It had all been said, many and many times. Takeru tried to hold back his anger and focused instead on getting Pegasumon in between Ken and Daisuke. Garurumon could fight; he would be needed for defense, especially if Ken managed to call up any of his Digimon slaves. 

"Hey, guys!" Miyako's cry came from above them. "Watch out!" 

Takeru wanted to ask what to watch out for. The answer came in the form of a blazing fireball that he ducked just in time. A flash of heat told him that perhaps he hadn't ducked quite as in time as he thought he did. He yanked his hat off his head and beat the small flames out, wincing as he did. 

_Mom is going to throw a fit._ He'd work that one out later, though. Protect his friend now, explain how his hat got scorched later. 

Dark Lizamon stalked forward, growling with every movement. From the way those eyes focused on Ken and Daisuke, protecting Daisuke was suddenly going to get a whole lot harder. 

Takeru grinned, though. He didn't mind a good challenge. And this was something they knew how to beat in the first place. 

* * *

Daisuke could scarcely breathe or think. Everything hurt, even places that he didn't think could hurt. He drew in a stuttering breath, fingers digging into the ground beneath him. He wanted to get up. He wanted to go somewhere. 

He didn't know where. He only knew he didn't want to stay here on the ground in such agony. 

His partner was somewhere around there. He could hear him. The sounds were wrong, but he knew that was his partner anyway. 

Someone else was there. Someone whose presence called to him in a low, silent voice, a drawing that he couldn't deny but wanted to. He couldn't pick out why, no more than he knew how he knew his partner's voice despite how it change. 

There were other voices, too. He knew that he knew them, he just couldn't put names to them. They were...friends? Did he have friends? What were friends? He couldn't get the details to fit together right in his head, no matter how hard he tried. 

He started to slip back down to the ground, his legs too shaky and weak to hold him up. That wasn't right either. Hadn't someone held him not that long ago? Giving him a hand when he couldn't do it for himself. 

He still couldn't think clearly enough to remember that. He wasn't certain how he knew his own name right now. 

Out of nowhere, a hand clenched itself firmly in his hair and his eyes flew open. He hadn't even completely realized that they were closed in the first place. But now he saw a pair of violet eyes, hidden by a large pair of glasses, staring down at him. 

What he noticed first of all was how furious those eyes were. The owner didn't seem to expect anything at all from him, only pulled him up by his hair, and then set his fingers in his mouth and whistled sharply, the sound shooting through Daisuke's head strong enough to make him wince. 

Two roars came, though Daisuke wasn't certain if they were in answer to the whistle or not. One of those was his partner. He still recognized that. The other was from a large dinosaur creature, who had a guy on his back that rang familiar in the vaults of Daisuke's mostly empty mind. Not familiar enough for him to put a name to the other, but enough so that he knew he _should_ know him and the fact he didn't grated on him. 

"Dark Lizamon!" The one holding onto him snapped as soon as Daisuke's partner came into view. "Finish them off, then return to base with the others!" 

Something about that struck Daisuke as deeply wrong. His arm hurt, he dully realized, more than any other part of him. The double distraction of the pain and how wrong those words had been prevented him from resisting as the other hauled him along. He tried to shake his head, to convey that he wanted to stop and _think_ , at least until his thoughts made some kind of sense. 

But the other just kept on dragging him away. 

* * *

Ken had barely seen what Takaishi had been up to with Daisuke and the D-3, but he didn't need to. He'd seen it enough the day before against his Ring. And while the Spiral remained strong on Daisuke, there were still signs that _something_ wasn't entirely right anymore. 

Such as the fact Daisuke didn't seem to have two brain cells to string together at the moment. He barely moved properly, and Ken didn't bother trying to make him. That would waste too much time. So he grabbed hold, whistled for AirDramon, and started pulling Daisuke away. 

Dark Lizamon could keep the Chosen distracted or even defeat one or two. He didn't know if that could happen; it never had before, but he was willing to let it play out and see. Either way, he would still have the real prize. 

Plans for revenge against the blond brothers coiled and whispered in the back of his head, plans he was determined to fulfill once he'd picked out the one that he liked best. Both of them had ticked off his rage like no one... no one aside from Daisuke ever had. He didn't want to put Spirals on them, however, no matter how delicious the irony would be. Daisuke was the only one of them he wanted to keep, the living evidence of his triumph in this game. 

Daisuke stumbled next to him, feet tangling around themselves, and Ken smacked him without thinking about it. "Are you a complete waste?" he snapped. "Is the only thing you're good for being my hand rest?" 

Large brown eyes focused on him, still filled with confusion. If Ken had been capable of feeling regret just then, he might well have done so. Instead, he took a better grip on his slave and waved down AirDramon. 

"No." He hadn't at all expected the voice, and his first reaction was to see which Chosen had gotten close enough to say something. His second was blazing fury that Daisuke had dared to speak without being given permission. Hadn't he learned well enough _yet_? 

He started to ask that when Daisuke spoke again. "I'm not...a hand rest." 

Oh, this was not going well. Ken stared at the Spiral, noticing now what he'd missed earlier: faint cracks webbing their way through the metal. This was _not_ even close to being good. 

"We'll discuss that later." Ken pulled Daisuke toward AirDramon again. He would have to create a new Spiral; this one wouldn't last much longer, especially not if the cracks meant Daisuke could start fighting it all over again. 

Something worse happened. Daisuke dug his heels in, wrapping one arm around a tree as they passed it. "No." His voice wasn't nearly as strong as it had been the day before when Ken captured him, but the word infuriated the Kaiser as much as all of that defiance then had. "Let me go." With each word, a little more fury began to build and he hauled back harder on the tree he'd gripped. "Let me _go_!" 

**To Be Continued**


	18. Break

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 18: Break  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,148||story: 39,099  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

"Sanctuary Bind!" Pegasumon and Nefertimon wove around one another, the gleaming golden lasso of light wrapping Dark Lizamon as tightly as they could. The corrupted Digimon flailed and struggled, but not to any actual avail. Sanctuary Bind could hold almost any creature, especially those touched by the darkness. 

"Red Sun!" Holsmon declared, the scarlet attack slicing directly into the Evil Spiral wrapped around Dark Lizamon's arm. All held still for a few heartbeats, then the Spiral shattered and broke, falling into shards of nothingness. 

Dark Lizamon remained where he was for a few more heartbreaking seconds, then shrank down, appearing as V-mon for only a moment, and then going back down to Chibimon. The small Digimon trembled all over, tiny hands pushing into the dirt beneath it before slumping face down. 

Miyako and Holsmon landed, Miyako dismounting and going over to check on him. "He's all right," she reported. "Just asleep." 

Iori, Hikari, and Takeru all nodded, turning nearly as one to where they knew Ken still would be fighting off Taichi and Yamato. Without a Tower in the area, their partners could at least evolve, giving them a slightly better chance in this battle. And Takeru knew this time, with all of them there to help, the attack on Daisuke would have a very different ending. 

"Let's go." 

* * *

Daisuke pulled back from Ken, or tried to. The Kaiser still had a firm grip on his hair, and Daisuke's grip on the tree wasn't as hard as he wanted it. All he could do was keep straining and digging in his heels, and hope that help came before Ken came up with something else to do. 

His head wasn't nearly as clear as he wanted it to be, either, but he was certain he didn't want the Kaiser to think up something new. The throbbing in his arm increased with every moment and he knew it came from that strange black spiral he saw there. 

"Didn't you hear him?" A voice he knew felt familiar rang out and he ducked automatically as a wave of blue energy shot over his head. "He said to let him go, Ken!" 

"I think when we get back to the fortress, I'm going to have a collar made for you, Daisuke. One that reads _property of the Digimon Kaiser_! Because no one seems to get that's exactly what you are now!" Ken snapped, his whip slashing outward in a failed attempt to slice into the one who'd attacked him. 

Another voice came. "I'm pretty sure that a collar isn't really Daisuke's style. You're not very good at this fashion thing, Ken." Another blast of flame preceded a giant reptile and a bushy-haired teenager by a matter of seconds. 

"I think we could've figured that out already," the blond with the giant wolf declared. "I mean, look at what he's wearing!" 

"You've got a point, Yamato," the brunet agreed. "But even if he were, he's not going to keep Daisuke." 

What Ken snarled wasn't under his breath and quite a few adults would've considered washing his mouth out with soap for that. Daisuke didn't quite understand it himself, but that was more due to his mental confusion than anything else. 

He tightened his grip on the tree. He wasn't going to give up on the tree. He was going to cling to it until he knew which way was up and how to think more like himself. 

Ken's hand rocketed out of nowhere, knocking him all but senseless, and when he could see something other than stars, Daisuke realized he was twenty feet away from the tree and moving faster, not at all under his own power. His feet scrambled on the grass but he could find no purchase. The spiral still clamped around his arm, though some of the pain had faded away. 

But the AirDramon drew closer with each moment, or they drew closer to it, and there were other Digimon coming in, ones that he could see Rings and Spirals on, and Daisuke knew enough by now to know that this was bad news of the worst sort. 

He scrambled harder, looking for anything he could grab onto. He could not, would not let himself get dragged off. He didn't want to go back to that cold, distant little lab room, for Ken to prod and poke at him and figure out a Spiral that would not break. Distant and fuzzy memories sparked, fantasies of all the things that Ken could make him do, and he did not want _any_ of that to happen. 

Daisuke wasn't thinking clearly. Even if he had, he likely would've gone with the intense non-plan that brought him surging completely to his feet, fueled by raw panic, unholy fear, and burning desire to never again be kept prisoner anywhere by anyone. 

He stopped trying to get away. Not in the way he'd been doing. He started to run _towards_ Ken, and then ran past him, moving as fast as he could. Ken's grip on him remained the same, though his expression was more than a little confused, and Daisuke didn't stop his apparently mindless maneuvering. He ran until he couldn't run, until Ken's grip checked him, and then he bounced back, running in a different direction this time. 

"What do you think you're doing?" Ken snapped, trying to haul him down and keep him there. "Have you lost your mind entirely?" 

"Nope!" Daisuke found a cheerful grin on his lips without warning and let it glow with all the joy he found in himself. "I think I found it, actually!" 

With every movement he made, his mind seemed to slot itself back more neatly into place. He could still feel the Spiral, but what he remembered increased from moment to moment. But he had a feeling - 

"Stop right now!" Ken snapped, cracking his whip. Daisuke's feet tangled in themselves and he pitched forward, crashing to his knees, his heart racing, face and neck covered in sweat that ran into his eyes and stung, and that saucy smile right where it was. 

The Spiral hadn't broken. Ken could still control him. But his fight wasn't over. Not at all. 

But he breathed deeply, still smiling. He wasn't free, not yet. But he would be. Because what he'd tried had worked. 

The Chosen had arrived. 

* * *

Hikari hadn't entirely known what she'd expected when they arrived on the scene in a hurried, sweaty, tired pile of people and Digimon. The few moments they'd seen Ken and Daisuke together since this started hadn't prepared her at all. 

But very little could have ever prepared her for anything Daisuke did, and seeing him running circles around Ken was no different. 

No one said anything. No one even could guess if Ken or Daisuke, much less Taichi or Yamato, had seen them. Then Ken's command made it completely irrelevant as Daisuke collapsed next to him. 

"That's it," Takeru murmured, pulling out his D-3. "We've got to take the chance now." 

There wasn't any asking of questions, nor need to. Four D-3s came out, pointing toward Daisuke, and four minds bent toward the same goal. 

Four beams of light and energy, each tinged with a slightly different color, slammed toward Daisuke. Under other circumstances, if this hadn't been the end of a very long day for all of them, Ken might've noticed what was going on and gotten Daisuke out of there just in time. But he'd barely begun to draw the breath for another command when the strike happened, sending Daisuke head over heels, unable to stand up even if Ken had ordered him to do so. 

"No!" The Kaiser growled, turning toward the Chosen, whip in hand. "How dare you!" 

"We dare because Daisuke's our friend!" Iori declared. "And we aren't going to let you keep him!" 

"Save the heroic speeches for another time," the Kaiser snapped, taking a step back and looking down at Daisuke himself. Another Spiral appeared between his fingers and Hikari shook her head, not liking the sight of that. If he got that on Daisuke, then everything they'd tried all this time would be for nothing. 

The Kaiser's Digimon circled them on every side; getting out of here would be tough enough even with Daisuke. If they couldn't take him down, at least for a few minutes, then - 

"Nefeterimon!" Hikari called out to her partner, desperate for something that would give them even the slightest edge. Nefertimon shot downward from where she, Pegasumon, and Holsmon waited in the sky, one hoof striking hard against the Kaiser's gloved hand. 

Again a word that would've given many parents fits, and the Kaiser clutched at where he'd been hit. The Spiral fell away, Nefertimon blasting it with her Curse of Queen hard enough to render it into dust. 

Satisfied that they weren't going to have to worry about that now, Hikari turned her full attention back to pouring all of her energy into her D-3, which turned it toward Daisuke in the continuing effort to free him. 

He thrashed and shuddered violently with each movement, the Spiral pulsing and throbbing on his arm. The Kaiser tried to grab onto him, only to be thrown back by both the light and the way Daisuke kept squirming. 

"It's still not enough!" Takeru shouted, casting about frantically. "We need some more help!" 

"All you had to do was ask," Taichi said, he and Yamato leaping off their respective Digimon. "Seems like old times, doesn't it, Yamato?" 

"Just a little." Two more beams, each pure white, struck out from their raised Digivices and the Digimon Kaiser threw himself backwards, slamming himself against the tree Daisuke had held onto not five minutes before, breathing hard, fury radiating from him. 

"No..." The word was little more than a ghost of a breath on the wind, but that single breath held pure hatred for the Chosen and what they took from him. 

_Crack!_

_Snap!_

The sound echoed throughout the area, perhaps more in their minds than in the ears, but there all the same. The Evil Spiral shattered into shards just as the one on Dark Lizamon had, leaving Daisuke free. Slowly the light from the D-3s and Digivices faded away. All that could be heard in the clearing now was Daisuke's breathing, hot and hard and heavy. 

He stumbled to his feet. He looked from Taichi and Yamato to the other younger Chosen and then to Ken, his eyes large and glazed and with hints of confusion and anger both rippling through them. He swallowed and shook his head, fingers clenching and unclenching into fists. 

No one dared to move and most of them weren't that interested in breathing. Daisuke took one hesitant step and then another. 

Then his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he collapsed forward. That sent the other Chosen racing toward him, calling out his name. He didn't move, his only sign of life being the rise and fall of his chest. 

"Let's get him out of here," Yamato declared, keeping one eye on where the Kaiser stood, hidden eyes full of a fury that didn't need to be seen to be felt. "I think we're done today anyway." 

No one argued on that, and even the Kaiser seemed to agree, stalking away and calling all of his Digimon to follow him. 

Yamato got back onto Garurumon and held Daisuke against him as the large Digimon headed toward the nearest safe space they had, the one Garurumon himself guarded. The other Chosen and their partners followed, no one in much of a mood to say anything, and all of them wondering what would happen when Daisuke woke up. 

* * *

With the Chosen now more wrapped up in taking care of Daisuke than following him to take Daisuke back, it was child's play for Ken to get on his AirDramon, Wormmon safely snuggled at his feet once more, and head to his fortress. He said nothing. Wormmon remained silent, a wise move on his part. The Kaiser wasn't at all in the mood to hear a word out of him or anyone else. 

_So my Rings and Spirals can control humans._ He'd learned that much, at least. He'd lost a golden opportunity to block Armor Evolution by not putting the fruits of his investigation on Daisuke's D-3 into action, and now he didn't have the resources to do it. He'd been too interested in making Daisuke effectively sit up and beg to take proper notes. 

His mind was made up. This wasn't a course of action he'd try again. He'd seen the results. Taking one of them hostage for a short period of time could be useful. Holding one on a permanent basis caused too much trouble and wasn't worth it at all. 

Especially when that one was Daisuke. 

**To Be Continued**


	19. Awake

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 19: Awake  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,140||story: 41,239  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

Daisuke scrunched his eyes tighter and tried to roll over. The sun shone far too bright and he wanted to curl up under his blankets and skip school today. He knew his parents and Jun wouldn't stand for it, but his head hurt so much and he didn't remember if he'd done his homework or even what he'd had for homework in the first place and everyone was going to laugh at him, and he could only imagine what would happen when they went to the Digital World and - 

His thoughts slammed to a halt so hard he wouldn't have been surprised to hear actual squeaking. He groaned, pulling one hand up to rest on his forehead, and realizing as he did that he _could_ do it. Nothing at all kept him tied anywhere, and that was so unlike the last times he remembered waking up that he sat up and looked around. 

He promptly laid right back as his head slammed into the woven branches over the cot he found he was stretched out on and he groaned audibly. 

“What in the - ” This wasn't where he was supposed to be. He wasn't sure where that was right off hand but he could identify a few choices. He wasn't in his bedroom at home and he wasn't in Ken's fortress, and those were the only two places he could think of where he _expected_ to be. 

Before he could crank out anything else, Takeru stuck his head in from a doorway Daisuke hadn't even noticed. “Are you awake?” A bright grin lit up his features. “You're awake!” 

“Wow, you're as smart as a whip,” Daisuke groaned, not feeling very open to visitors at the moment. Especially relentlessly perky ones that gave him an even worse headache just by being there. 

Takeru only laughed as he moved closer. “How are you feeling? Koushirou-kun and Jou-kun gave you the best exam they could but they want to know from you how you feel.” 

“Like I could eat my weight in ramen right now. Any flavor. All the flavors. Invent a few new ones, I'll take 'em down.” Daisuke rubbed his head carefully. “And like I could swallow a ton of aspirin while I'm at it.” 

Takeru nodded, shifting to get a better look at him. “What about… what you remember? Do you know what happened?” 

Daisuke blinked and tried to dig through the hazy memories. The pounding headache made it difficult for him to remember, but a few images flickered in. “I was… Ken...Ken put one of those Spirals on me, didn't he?” A Ring _and_ a Spiral; Daisuke remembered that now. Far too vividly he remembered being in Ken's control room, kneeling next to the Kaiser, one gloved hand resting on Daisuke's head, fingers working their way through as if Daisuke were his own personal hand rest. 

Being _called_ the Kaiser's hand rest. 

Daisuke's stomach churned and he found himself glad that he'd scarcely eaten in the last day or so. What he had threatened to come back up but he was able to fight it back. For now, at least. 

Takeru hadn't moved at all. “You need any help?” He sounded worried, one hand starting to reach out to Daisuke once the other seemed more settled. 

“No, I'm fine.” Daisuke didn't need any help right now. What he needed was to check on V-mon and then get back home and get started on forgetting this whole mess ever happened in the first place. 

Takeru frowned at him. “Are you sure? They do want to talk to you. Make certain that everything is working the way that it should.” 

Daisuke resisted the temptation to yell, mostly because he didn't have the strength to do it just yet. Instead, he took a better look around where he was. 

So far as he could tell, he was inside of a hollow tree. One that hadn't fallen down. The walls were polished to a mirror sheen and the only piece of furniture in the 'room', if it could be called that, was the bed. The woven branches he'd bumped his head on stretched from one side of the 'room' to the other, offering a place for curtains to hang, giving whoever was in here privacy and darkness to rest in. 

Daisuke didn't know where they'd found it, but he decided if he ever wanted to spend the night in the Digital World, this was a pretty good place to do it. At least if it could also be protected form the Kaiser. 

Daisuke wasn't used to thinking about being protected from their enemy, but since a part of him could still feel the clamp of the Spiral around his arm and he remembered how he'd _thought_ then...yes, making certain that couldn't happen again was a very good idea. 

“Where is this?” He still looked around, even as he started to get up again, this time making a careful effort not to bump his head. He didn't think he'd knocked anything loose, aside from a few threads of hair he could probably handle losing anyway. 

“It's a safe place that Miyako and Iori found after we got you away from the Kaiser,” Takeru told him. “Once you're in here, you don't show up on any kind of detection equipment whatsoever.” He gestured and Daisuke followed his movement to a basket hanging from one of the vines. With a small squeak of joy, he scooped out his D-3 and D-Terminal. “We checked and no one could pick up your D-3's signal from inside of here. We took it out and there it was, put it back, and nothing. You're completely hidden inside here.” 

Oh, that sounded _so_ good right now. But as much as he wanted to keep himself safe from the Kaiser, until he could get a better grip on all of this, he shook his head a little and tucked his possessions into the various pockets they belonged in. The idea of them being in anyone else's hands, or just not in his, was not an idea he planned on letting grow. 

“If you're hungry, Yamato's cooking up some dinner outside. There aren't any restaurants anywhere in the area, and no one wanted to go back home and explain why we were collecting dinner for fourteen. I don't think we could even afford dinner for fourteen.” 

What Daisuke got out of that was that there was food somewhere in the area and he was entitled to his fair share of it. What's more, it was food he'd be able to feed himself and he wouldn't have to deal with any of Ken's annoying little antics in order to get it. He'd be able to stand or sit as he chose in order to eat. 

In short, it was everything he'd wanted from the moment he realized how much of his life Ken was trying to steal from him. He was going to make certain that he had it all back, no matter how long it took. 

Aside from eating, there was one piece that he wanted to find out about right away and he hurried toward the door, pushing past Takeru as if the other weren't there at all. He didn't bother to apologize; Takeru should understand this kind of thing. And if he didn't, apologies could come some other day. This was much more important. 

Almost every other Chosen Child turned to look at him as he stepped out of the tree. Daisuke froze where he stood, eyes flicking from one of them to the other, suddenly terribly self-conscious with all of those eyes staring at him. He'd never had so many people look at him and the thought of what could've been if they hadn't fought to get him back as hard as they had sent more and more waves of nausea through him. He still kept himself under control. Barely. But he'd need a bathroom, very soon. 

“Daisuke!” Chibimon bounced over to him, though 'zoomed' might well have been a better word, as he crashed into Daisuke and latched onto his leg as if he'd been taking lessons from leeches. “Are you all right? How do you feel? I'm feeling a lot better now! I had some food and it was really, really good, because Yamato-san cooked it, and I had a nap, only I had the nap first, and I don't _ever_ want to have one of those Spirals on me again and Agumon said he knows how I feel and when are we going back home?” 

It took Daisuke a few more seconds to parse through all of that. Even though they were mostly the same questions Takeru had asked, they meant a little more coming from Chibimon. He bent down to pick up his partner, a fresh awareness of what it meant for all of those Digimon under the Kaiser's power flowing through him. 

“I feel better now too. And we're going home sometime tonight.” He didn't know when, but he thought it would be at least after they ate. And in addition to what Takeru told him before, he could see Jou-san and Koushirou-san almost lurking near him from the corners of his eye. Koushirou-san already had his laptop out and Daisuke wondered if he were being secretly scanned or something. 

Well, as long as it didn't interfere with his dinner, he decided, and looked toward Yamato-san. “I heard about food?” His stomach sang a loud counterpoint to the question. 

“Right. Here you go.” Yamato produced a bowl and a spoon and in due course, Daisuke held both in his own hands and proceeded to plow through three helpings of the delicious fish stew. No one asked where he'd acquired fish in the Digital World. They'd either been there long enough to know or weren't there long enough to decide they wanted to. 

Chibimon had his own bowl as well, and though he'd already had two helpings before Daisuke woke up, he shared a third one with his partner, perfectly willing to eat as much as he could tuck away, even if he had to find the very smallest corners in which to do so. 

Finally Daisuke looked up at everyone else, a tiny bit of a droop to his eyes. “I didn't mean to cause all this trouble.” He really hadn't. If he'd been able to fight off Ken better, if he'd not gotten separated and lost, then this wouldn't have happened in the first place. 

“It's never your fault for being lost,” Tailmon declared, not a shred of doubt in her tone. “Sometimes it just happens and you have to work with whatever happens to you because of it.” 

“Besides, it's not like you walked up to Ken and volunteered to test out his Rings and Spirals for him. He didn't have to do anything to you, and he did. He's got his own blame to bear here,” Yamato pointed out. “Don't stress yourself over it, Daisuke.” 

“And it's not like we lost you forever. Overnight's not that bad, is it?” Taichi asked, a hint of tease twinkling in his eyes. 

Daisuke shuddered as it truly hit him that he'd been gone _all night long_. “What about Jun? Did anyone tell her anything?” 

“We told them that you were staying at my place,” Takeru told him. “Don't worry about it, we've got it all sorted out.” 

Daisuke slowly nodded; he would get all the information on that later. He wasn't sure if he'd remember it all now if they told it to him. He didn't know how long he'd been out of it after they'd broken the Spiral, but after all of that food he'd stuffed down himself, he could feel a serious nap coming on. 

“Thanks, guys.” That didn't even come close to expressing how he felt but he didn't know what else to tell them. Answering all of Jou-san and Koushirou-san's questions would probably go a long way toward thanking them. He angled his head toward them. “Um, can we save that talk until after I've slept? I don't know how much I could tell you right now.” 

“Of course,” Koushirou-san agreed with a nod. “It wouldn't be sensible to expect you to answer everything right away.” 

“And you'll need to heal up a little more anyway. As far as I can tell you're in good shape, but that's just from observing you now. I don't have all the equipment that I'd like in order to really examine you, but so far so good, at least.” 

Daisuke had never been fond of doctor visits anyway. So for now, he smiled and finished up the last of his dinner and headed his way into the safety of the little tree-room, and hoped there would be no nightmares to haunt his rest. 

**To Be Continued**


	20. Friends

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title:** Captive: Chapter 20: Friends  
 **Characters:** Ken, Daisuke  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 2,130||story: 43,369  
 **Genre:** Drama, Friendship|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Notes:** This takes place during the Digimon Kaiser arc, after everyone has their second Digimental. This was also written for three what-if challenges: what if the Evil Rings/Spirals could be used to control humans, what if Daisuke were captured by the Digimon Kaiser, and what if Daisuke got lost in the Digital World during one of their trips? It’s also my entry for the Summer/Autumn Event 2014 at the Digimon Fanfiction Challenge forum.  
 **Summary:** Daisuke knows fun. Being lost in the Digital World and found by his mortal enemy? That is not fun. At all.

* * *

_A smooth gloved hand going through his hair._

_A far too smooth, smug voice whispering words that he did not want to hear._

_Himself, staring at the other Chosen, refusing to listen to anything they said. The only voice he wanted to hear the one that gave him orders that he ached to obey, if only because he knew it would please the one who gave them._

_Startled eyes, shocked voices, people, his friends, falling backwards as he struck, not caring about how the pain hurt them, but caring far too much about how good it felt to do this in the first place._

_The Kaiser's voice, his Master's voice, rising above all, praising him, approving of him, and how **good** that praise felt, how **good** Daisuke felt because he'd obeyed those orders, because he'd hurt other people at the Kaiser's command._

_What he'd never wanted and what he'd wanted all of his life and never admitted to._

Daisuke's eyes flew open and in the darkness of his bedroom, one hand flew to where the Spiral had rested only a few days earlier. He didn't relax at all until he touched bare skin, and didn't relax completely until he'd checked his entire body. 

Nothing. Nothing at all. 

He sagged back against the pillows and let out a long sigh. Three days since they'd broken the Spiral on him and every single night, he'd had the same kind of nightmare. The details changed every time, but the point of it was the same thing: he was back with Ken, only the Spiral had complete and utter control of him, and he defeated everyone with abandon, happy to make Ken happy. 

Chibimon still rested on his personal pillow, sound asleep. To Daisuke, that at least meant he hadn't been thrashing around. Not like he had the first night, when he'd all but thrown his partner on the floor, and had had to tell some creative lies to keep Jun off his back. The way she stared at him after he'd come back home made him wonder what she knew, or thought she knew. He wasn't going to tell her anything, though. She'd likely find a way to go to the Digital World and read Ken the riot act for what he'd done. 

Which wasn't such a bad thing, really, but he didn't want her to go there without some kind of backup, and he hadn't yet gotten himself together enough to face Ken personally. 

He knew that he would. He just needed time. 

At least Ken seemed kind of inclined to give them that time. He hadn't done much that they'd noticed since their last encounter. He probably _was_ doing things, just things that they couldn't detect right now. 

Daisuke kind of wished that Ken had done a little more gloating about his future plans and not so much about how Daisuke was such a good hand rest. At least then what he'd gone through would've been _useful_ instead of just annoying. 

He sighed and slipped out of bed, going over to the window. The sights and sounds of the city below hadn't changed. He hadn't expected them to. Two days and a night had made a difference to him, not them. 

He picked up his D-Terminal and stared at it for a while. Koushirou and Miyako had both checked it out and as far as they could tell, Ken hadn't done anything to either it or his D-3. Daisuke had no intentions of complaining about that. He knew Ken would've done anything he could to stop them from armor evolving if he could. That had kind of worried him from his early days in the Digital World anyway, once he realized that Ken had taken his D-Terminal and D-3 from him while he'd been unconscious. 

_Why does he keep bothering me?_ Was it being the leader? Ken didn't seem quite as eager to send dark looks and make plans for anyone else. He'd do something if they crossed his path, like sending some of his slaves after Hikari-chan when she'd been caught in Andromon's city. But Daisuke? Daisuke he made plans for. Daisuke he watched for. 

He shook his head. Ken would probably chalk it up to just Daisuke being annoying. He probably wasn't the only one. Daisuke didn't deny that he _was_ annoying and he would keep on being so. He hadn't yet seen any reason for him to stop. 

Right now he just needed the time to recharge his annoying batteries. His lips twitched just a bit at the thought of that. _I wonder what I would do to recharge them._ Taking a small break seemed to be the only thing he could think of. If it worked, he wouldn't argue about it. 

School hadn't changed at all. With help from the others, he'd made certain he had his assignments done, at least as much as he usually did them. Thankfully he hadn't missed practice. _That_ would've been impossible to try to explain, what with being team captain and everything. 

He leaned his head back some, eyes half-closed, only somewhat looking at the D-Terminal now. It was too late for anyone to be awake, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to talk to anyone anyway. At least not any of his teammates. 

_Yeah, who else would I talk to?_

Images from his dream flickered into his mind and he shook his head as hard as he could. No. Under _no_ circumstances would he talk to Ken about this. What would he even say? 'Hey, I'm having some nightmares about what you did to me. Got any advice?' 

He knew what Ken would say. _Maybe you should come back and be my hand rest again. You seemed to enjoy it well enough._

Daisuke's stomach churned, but after the last couple of days, he had enough practice to clamp down on it before anything happened. _That's not gonna happen._ He wasn't sure if he meant just talking to Ken or going back there, but either way, it wouldn't happen at all. 

Stubborn determination in every line of himself, he headed back to his bed and curled up. No matter what, he wasn't going to let Ken get to him. He'd fought as hard as he could while he'd had that Ring and Spiral on. He wasn't going to stop fighting Ken's influence just because he wasn't wearing one anymore. He was going to do what he wanted, which meant right now? He was going to sleep. 

And Ken could just deal with it. 

* * *

Another day, another trip to the Digital World, taking down more of those towers. Daisuke didn't think he could ever get enough of doing that. The more they destroyed, the less rule Ken had over the Digital World. The less rule that he had, the more he would be annoyed, and then he'd come out and they could do something more permanent about him. 

Exactly what they could do when even Daisuke didn't have any idea of where his base was, no one had yet figured out. All Daisuke himself could remember was that it was big, dark, crisply metallic, and filled with way more Digimon than he'd ever seen before. As hard as he tried, he couldn't remember every detail of what happened to him, and he had to admit he was kind of glad about that. 

“How many more are we getting rid of?” Hikari asked. “That was the fifth one today, wasn't it?” 

Daisuke nodded fiercely. With every tower they destroyed, he could feel just a little bit more satisfaction in his life. “I think we can get in two more if we try?” It was getting a little close to time to go home, but he liked the idea of blowing up seven towers in one day. 

Takeru and Pegasumon landed a short distance away. “What do you say we try for three?” There was a definite gleam of challenge in his eyes and Daisuke returned it. 

“Just you watch, we'll get another four in!” If Takeru wanted to up the ante, then Daisuke would be more than willing to go along with it. 

A low, dark laugh echoed around without warning. Daisuke's breath caught in his throat and he shifted toward FlaDramon, whose head came up, searching until he spied the source of it. 

A row of Tyrannomon stood far too close, and seated on the one in the lead stood the Digimon Kaiser himself. 

“You are all becoming too much of a nuisance. I would think you'd learned better not to challenge me, knowing how easily I can take any of you down.” 

For the last few days, the very thought of the Kaiser made Daisuke's heart clench with anger and the cold sweat of rage sprang up down his spine. Seeing him here and now, however, Daisuke jerked himself forward. 

“Funny, I don't feel all that 'taken down'. More like wanting to take _you_ down!” 

The Kaiser waved one hand. “That won't happen. You can rest assured, however, that I have no interest in putting a Spiral on any of you again. I don't think any of you are worth the trouble. But I do think you'd understand that I could if I _wanted_ to, so that means you're only playing this game because I let you. That means I've already won.” 

Daisuke still didn't understand what Ken meant by 'game', because this wasn't one. He kind of wished at times that he'd been able to talk to him about that when he'd been in the fortress, but he'd been more worried about everything else than about Ken's personal fantasies. 

“Not a chance,” Daisuke said with a quick shake of his head. “We're still here, we're still fighting you, and we'd do it no matter what. You haven't done a thing to make us stop and you _never will_.” 

Between Ken's fingers there suddenly gleamed an Evil Spiral. Just looking at it spiked the rage in Daisuke even higher and he took a step forward. 

He might've kept on going, if Takeru's hand hadn't landed on his shoulder. He threw a quick glance behind him in time to see the blond shake his own head. 

Daisuke really, really wanted to throw Takeru's hand off and go charging up there toward Ken. He'd taken him down once before and he knew he could do it again. 

“He's just trying to mess with your head,” Takeru told him, keeping his voice pitched low so Ken couldn't hear him. “That's the real game.” 

Daisuke dragged in air and turned back toward Ken. He still wanted to punch the other's face in. Maybe a couple of times if he got lucky. But he wasn't going to play Ken's games. He'd had enough of that already. 

Before he could say a word, Ken spoke up again. “I'd think that you'd at least want some revenge for what I did to you. Did you tell them how good of a hand rest you make? I think you liked it, didn't you?” Ken's lips curved into that familiar sly smile of his. “In fact, why don't we get their opinion on the matter?” 

Images suddenly burst into life in between Ken and the Chosen, images of the interior of his fortress. Daisuke recognized it as the main control room, where Ken spent most of his time staring at all of those monitors. And in this image, Daisuke knelt next to him, eyes blank, providing a place for Ken to rest his free hand. 

“Doesn't he look as if he's having such a good time? I know _I_ was.” 

The images faded away, but not before everyone had a very good look at them. Daisuke's shoulders tensed. He could almost feel the way Miyako and Iori stared at him, the sympathy in Hikari's gaze, he didn't even know _what_ to call it for Takeru… 

“Come on. We've got about half an hour left. Want to see who can destroy more spires first?” Takeru spoke up. “I'm not all that interested in Ken's home movies, are any of you?” 

Iori answered first. “Not really. They look kind of dull. He's just sitting there.” 

“Yeah, he doesn't even have any good movies!” Miyako joined in. Hikari nodded her own agreement. 

“I think we can all find something better to watch,” she added. “Who wants to come over for movies at my place after we're done here?” 

Daisuke glanced from one of them to the other and began to smile. “Sounds like a good idea to me.” He turned his back on the Kaiser and started off with his friends, ignoring the gnashing of teeth that came from behind them. “Sorry, Ken,” he said, not even looking back. “You're not invited.” 

**The End**

**Note:** Wow, I actually finished this. It's going to be strange not updating this on alternating Fridays, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. I hope that you enjoyed reading it. Before anyone asks, I have no sequels in mind at the moment. But I do have _plenty_ of other fanfics I will be writing. So I hope you like those!


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